3953 – Crocodile
- Physical description:
- Small stuffed crocodile, reddish brown in colour.
- Museum classification:
- History of the Museum
- Size:
- 1 metre
- Information:
A small crocodile, similar to varieties hung in alchemists rooms and the one used by the Museum's founder, Cecil Williamson.
Stuffed crocodiles hanging from the ceiling are often a feature of 'Rooms of Wonder' depicted in art - rooms containing strange and magical objects and associated with astrologers, alchemists or magicians. The most famous example is probably Hogarth's illustration of Hudibras attacking the astrologer/alchemist/magician Sidrophel. However, this was influenced by a woodcut from 1599 (the frontispiece to Ferrante Imperato's 'Dell' Historia Naturale Libri XXVIII') (see Florence Fearrington, 'Rooms of Wonder: From Wunderkammer to Museum, 1599-1899'). A more recent example is the witch's workroom in Mary Norton's children's book 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks'.
A stuffed crocodile was a feature of the Museum of Witchcraft in its early days, and in a taped interview Cecil Williamson gives a humorous account of bringing it back by train, ferry and taxi from a 'sorcerer's den' someone had set up (based on a 'medieval' picture) in Austria.- Resource:
- Object
- Materials:
- Animal
A small crocodile, similar to varieties hung in alchemists rooms and the one used by the Museum's founder, Cecil Williamson.
Stuffed crocodiles hanging from the ceiling are often a feature of 'Rooms of Wonder' depicted in art - rooms containing strange and magical objects and associated with astrologers, alchemists or magicians. The most famous example is probably Hogarth's illustration of Hudibras attacking the astrologer/alchemist/magician Sidrophel. However, this was influenced by a woodcut from 1599 (the frontispiece to Ferrante Imperato's 'Dell' Historia Naturale Libri XXVIII') (see Florence Fearrington, 'Rooms of Wonder: From Wunderkammer to Museum, 1599-1899'). A more recent example is the witch's workroom in Mary Norton's children's book 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks'.
A stuffed crocodile was a feature of the Museum of Witchcraft in its early days, and in a taped interview Cecil Williamson gives a humorous account of bringing it back by train, ferry and taxi from a 'sorcerer's den' someone had set up (based on a 'medieval' picture) in Austria.