Medieval sirens and mermaids

[-JKP-]

An interesting way of thinking about the page, David. But would this be compatible with medieval thought at all? (Genuine question, I really don't know). And how are the figures in between intermediate steps?

The idea of man's dominion over nature was emphasized in the Bible.

There are thousands of images of hierarchies. Hierarchies of angels are particularly common. Most Bible illustrations show God and angels higher up, people lower down, often the animals are at the same level (ground level) or lower, lost souls lower still.

The elements are frequently drawn as hierarchical (with fire at the top).

I'd say the concept of hierarchies (with ideas like "up" and "larger" being distinguished from "lower" and "smaller") were very much a part of medieval illustrations.

Also the idea of ascent (which I suspect might be behind the positioning of some of the figures like the mystery pangolin (Agnus Dei?)) is pretty common in medieval illustrations.