Animals have been present among humans since the dawn of time, creating bonds and friendships, food and clothing; they have a great impact on our evolution as a species. Throughout our history humans have observed them very closely, evaluating each creature as it walked alongside us. Ancient civilizations began to use their traits and characteristics as a way to justify behavior and analyze the world around us. We have used animals to represent the natural world, symbolizing important attributes, becoming incredibly significant in the evolution of man. They began to create meaningful symbolism to help illustrate concepts to the illiterate and process information through a medium that everyone would be able to understand. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayIn this essay I will discuss how animals have been represented in art, illustration, and symbolism and compare them to how they are represented today Creationism played an important role in society as it included symbolisms that would be understood by those who were illiterate: In the Middle Ages, the vast majority of people were illiterate, which meant they relied on a visual aid to be able to interpret the text. Science had yet to evolve, meaning the public depended on creationism to explain the complex world around them, since that was all they knew. The illustration was used to teach people of that time about creationism so that everyone could apply it to their lives. Animals played an important role in medieval art, becoming renowned for their symbolism: most often, animals were used to symbolize many different things depending on the origin, but most animals were used symbolically as a way to explain the inexplicable, which had a great influence on the creation of myths and legends such as mythical creatures. These creatures were based on people's interpretation of animals, especially since many species would not have been native. In those days animals were not documented properly as people relied on an explorer to document findings of new species, so artists had to interpret the illustration based on the explorer's words, which could often be misleading. In Christianity, animals were used to paint a picture and set a scene, with the use of the hidden symbolic meanings that we have now forgotten in our modern society: 'A seed buried in the ground grows steadily upward according to its nature until to become a large tree whose flowering branches are a refuge for nesting birds in spring and summer they provide welcome shade to animals and doctors, in autumn the fruits can serve as sustenance for many creatures, while the leaves fallen at the beginning of winter they enrich the soil with humus that other seeds can germinate when spring returns and the sap rises' - This passage shows the detail with which animals are used to describe the surrounding environment with hidden symbolism. Birds in Christianity symbolize the presence of God. Each bird has a different meaning but if we talk about all birds the meaning remains that of the presence of God. 'Life with doves pecking at grapes are closely related images' this is yet another symbolic mention of birds. An animal would symbolize a representation of an animal's own characteristics: a crow is both a positive and negative animal. The crowsthey symbolize spiteful and manipulative behavior, intelligence, higher perspective, and are adaptive. But people did not know that these described characteristics were accurate representations of their nature since they had never seen one before. “How are birds peculiar among animals?” Their arms are wings that allow them to lift off the ground and fly quickly through the air. Birds also have very quick and acute vision. An eagle or hawk as it hovers, high in the air, observes small objects on the ground far below. How fast a bird's eyesight must be to fly safely through the woods, in and out of the branches! And we must not forget the sweet songs of some birds and the bright colors of others, which are their means of sharing with us the delights of their happy life.' concepts such as the idea that less conscious species correspond to our emotions and affections making the observation of nature part of religious practices. The depictions of the animals were not accurate as travel was not easy then, which meant fewer people could collect documentation of the animals. People thought that exotic animals were imaginary because they had not seen them, and therefore the realism of the illustrations produced was not accurate because it was based on description rather than visual documentation, a bit like Chinese whispers. The color palette was limited to the illustrators as many colors had yet to be created, so they used nature to create the pigments, which also proved to be a task for documentation. The mythical looking beasts along with the respectable symbolism each species possessed would stand alongside each other to tell a story: Looking back to the Neolithic period, cave paintings were used to tell stories. 'Most experts (though not all) believe that they were painted without any thought of beauty, their purpose being to provide magical aid to the hunter. Their realism is all the more remarkable because the artist had practically none of the aid available subsequently. Yellow, red and black were his only colors, derived from the minerals of the earth, and as a brush he used his fingers or, at best, a piece of ragged bark.' Much medieval mythology mentions wild children. A book that was influenced by the historical period but maintains a modern visual language is "The Jungle Book". This book was produced in 1894 and illustrated by John Lockwood Kipling. It shows how symbolism is still present in the illustrations and narrative description of animal characters but has also been forgotten by society. In this book there is again an overt use of symbolism projected through the characteristics of the animal. Bagheera is one of the fictional characters in the book. He is the Black Morph of the big cat Jaguar who mentors Mowgli. He reveals his past to Mowgli, which shows his characteristics in more depth. Its description connotes the medieval symbolism of a Black Morph Jaguar. In the medieval bestiary, the jaguar is described as a "gentle beast"; only the dragon is his enemy': The 'enemy' refers to another character in the novel – Shere Khan who is the evil Bengal Tiger. It was said that if you meet a black jaguar, you meet your fears that you had kept hidden. The black jaguar also symbolizes strength and power, which is what Bagheera offers Mowgli. The name Mowgli actually means "wild child", although it does not symbolize an animal, it evidently shows that the symbolism is used in publications. After the Renaissance period, people were more interested in science and naturalism. With a sudden influx ofinterest in education, more people were able to read. Society soon began to reject symbolism in illustrations and replace them with science, as there was no longer any need for it. Charles Darwin was a naturalist and geologist who revolutionized science with his illustrations of animals. Darwin introduced the theory of evolution; this significantly changed the perspectives of those still classified as creationists. Darwin's illustrations were important to those who were uneducated as they were able to notice the veracity of the images. While not renowned for his illustrations, he introduced a new visual language and new expectations for animal illustrations. It was not until the 18th century that animals were no longer considered a serious artistic subject. It was used for more scientific purposes to demonstrate technical skill rather than for works of art. Durer is a German painter famous for animal portraiture. He painted an illustration of squirrels. Compared to the medieval bestiary's depiction of a squirrel, the illustration is a more accurate representation. Dürer's squirrel colors are much more realistic as they are similar to the color of a squirrel in real life. The medieval bestiary illustration of the squirrel uses bright and unrealistic colors, which only shows the lack of available materials and understanding that people had during that time. The detail in the squirrel's tail - the thin lines with which it is used to represent the bushy tail - are very different from the bestiary version, which looks more like a tree. The proportion of both creatures is drastically different; with the squirrel represented in proportion to the regular acorns and the enormous squirrels appearing much larger than a tree. The faces of the creatures are somewhat similar, but the bestiary's squirrel looks more like a bat than a squirrel. The people at that time who specialized in technical drawings were the ones who traveled the world, which meant they were able to experience and see the animal with their own eyes, rather than with stories and descriptions from other world travelers. This has created a boom in science as the ability to properly document animals has greatly improved our understanding of the natural world. Nowadays, the way we used symbolism has been forgotten by society. This is because most of the population are now naturalists as we now have a good understanding of science. Over time animals lost the meaning of symbolism in illustration. This does not mean that the symbolism has been completely forgotten, simply forgotten by society. However, many illustrations have elements of Disney-like animal symbolism. Disney's version of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" has significant elements of symbolism throughout. The animals featured in the book have elements of Christian symbolism with the exception of non-historical Christian symbolism. The Bible says, “Preach the Gospel to all creation” – this means that even animals are considered sacred. Snow White demonstrates this by communicating with animals and treating them kindly. Snow White is supposed to represent an element of Jesus, the animals are his disciples or followers. There are also patriarchal elements with the animals and Snow White. This proves once again that animals are the followers of Snow White (Jesus). While this is not the historical use of symbolism, it is evidence that symbolism is still intact, just that it has been forgotten as common knowledge. Nowadays, animals in illustrations have changed and are now used as a way to personify character, especially in children's books. They come:.