Vol. 3 No. 2 (2024)
Articoli

Passerotti, Aldrovandi e due disegni di “uomini-bestia”

Angela Ghirardi
Alma Mater Studiorum

Published 2024-12-19

Keywords

  • Bartolomeo Passerotti; Ulisse Aldrovandi; Drawings; Monstrosities; Physiognomy

How to Cite

Ghirardi, A. (2024). Passerotti, Aldrovandi e due disegni di “uomini-bestia”. Aldrovandiana. Historical Studies in Natural History, 3(2), 41–52. https://doi.org/10.30682/aldro2402b

Abstract

The article examines two drawings by Bartolomeo Passerotti, as yet unknown to the bibliography on the artist, which depict heads with mixed human and animal features: a Man-dog and a Man-mouse. For the metamor- phic forms they seem to be linked to the Double portrait as Ulysses and Circe (Bologna, Collezioni di Arte e di Storia della Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio in Bologna), in which an ideal portrait of Ulysses Aldrovandi has long been recognized and where two beast-men appear behind Circe. Passerotti expresses, in the two sheets, his involvement in the “homeric” climate widespread in Bologna and he seems to be influenced by the research on monstrosities of nature carried out by the Bolognese scientist and also by the studies on physiognomy, aimed at the comparison between men and animals, looking for similarities and moral teachings.