I stumbled across this amazing illustration by Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet while searching early scientific whale drawings. This creature seems so alien and monster-like. It is incredible to realize that Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet was drawing a Sperm Whale! I guess there actually are a lot of similarities; the broad head, the wrinkly skin, the bumps along it’s spine. Basically everything that could be seen from the top of the water is relatively accurate… and everything below the waterline looks like it has been “filled in”. What a great example of imagination paired with reality!