Il bestiario di Aloys Zötl (1831-1887)

Ancient astronomers saw animals in the sky; children are friends to animals; the primitives considered animals to be their ancestors. Today, animal species are defended for their usefulness, not for the aesthetic and spiritual values they embody. Zötl, a humble 19th-century master dyer, was instead committed to these values. He created fantastic backgrounds for the animals he reproduced in his watercolours, in line with the grace, ferocity, shape or colour of each beast. Only through extensive research was it possible to recompose, in this work, Zötl's rich and colourful menagerie.