16th century freakshow

Some images I've been retouching at work. These are woodcuts by Ulisse Aldrovandi, a naturalist and philosopher in renaissance Bologna, who was regarded by later scientists (such as Linnaeus, of all people!) as the father of natural history studies. So are these images accounts from some sort of interaction with these individuals, or is this the work of science fiction? I found them to be quite interesting.

The ugly hairy monster

A small boy lacking fingers


A man from the land of cinnamon (Ceylon/Indonesia?)


Two legged dragon (believed captured in countryside near Bologna in 1572.)


An Ethiopian boy and a hairy woman (Since when are either of these types of people considered deviants?????)


The 40-year-old father with his 20-year-old son, both completely covered in hair


A youth lacking thighbones, legs, and feet