Female grotesque and harpy (recto); fantastical creatures and masks (verso) 1540 - 1550

Andrés de Melgar’s pen and brown ink drawing, dating from the late 16th century, presents a bestiary of fantastical creatures. These images of female grotesques and harpies, however, should be understood in their social and institutional context. Spain in the late 1500s was a society obsessed with purity and rigid social hierarchy. The aristocracy were eager to display their power and status, and artists were enlisted to create imagery that would legitimize this social structure. Grotesques and harpies, often associated with the monstrous and the impure, were used in art to reinforce social norms and hierarchies. The drawings may well be a preparatory sketch for an ornament, perhaps on a weapon or piece of armor intended to convey power, and may reflect the politics of imagery at the time. To fully understand the meaning of these images, historians might turn to emblem books and bestiaries, revealing the cultural associations attached to these creatures. This artwork reminds us that meaning is not inherent, but produced within specific social and institutional contexts.