Wild man

Wild Man (Holbein the Younger)

The wild man, wild man of the woods, or woodwose/wodewose is a legendary creature that painters and artists in medieval Europe would put in their artwork. He was always shown as man covered with hair. The image of the wild man were used for coats-of-arms, especially in Germany. Renaissance engravers in Germany and Italy added wild men, wild women and wild families to art (for example, Albrecht Dürer or Holbein the Younger).[1]

References

  1. Timothy Husband; Gloria Gilmore-House (1980). The Wild Man: Medieval Myth and Symbolism. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved June 7, 2021.