Wild man

mythical figure common in western European legend

A wild man of the woods, also known as a wild man of the jungle, wild man of the forest, woodwose, wodewose or wereape or simply a wild man, is a legendary creature that painters and artists in medieval Europe would put in their artwork. It was always shown as man covered with hair. The image of a 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]

Wild Man (Holbein the Younger)

References

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  1. Timothy Husband; Gloria Gilmore-House (1980). The Wild Man: Medieval Myth and Symbolism. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9780870992544. Retrieved June 7, 2021.