[The scale of humans and animals on Lilliput] · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: [The scale of humans and animals on Lilliput]
Subject: Animals; Insects; Lilliput (Imaginary Place); Fictional Works; Fictitious Characters; Imaginary Places; Imaginary Creatures; Gulliver's Travels
Period: 1800-1850;
Geographic: Lilliput; England
Description: In this image we are shown the scale of all the animals on Lilliput next to Gulliver’s ruler which measures twelve inches. The average Lilliputian man measures six inches tall. The scale includes a human, cow, horse, goat, ram, sheep, dog, monkey, cat, fox, rabbit, mouse, rooster, owl, parrot, parakeet, dove, swan, duck, toucan, turtle, lizard, frog, snake, fish, butterfly, moth, and several other types of insects. The purpose of the image is to demonstrate that the animals on Lilliput are roughly the same scale to the human as is true in the real world. Due to this scale we are also led to believe that the same animals exist on Lilliput as do in reality, simply on a smaller scale, and thus they likely have the same roles and utilities. This contrasts to some animals in the other lands visited by Gulliver later in the story where the animals are more highly fictionalized. The same image appears in the 1839 Krabbe edition.
Image Creator: Grandville (Illustrator); Breviere (Illustrator); Francais (Illustrator)
Type: StillImage; Vignettes
Identifier: mta:21557
Language: ger
Source Name: Gulliver's Reisen in unbekannte Länder
Parent Collection: 1843 Stuttgart Grandville vol. 1
Image: mta_21557_OBJ.png

Media: mta_21557_OBJ.png