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Original file
About This Work
This anatomical study shows two infants joined at the torso, presented in two separate views to document their physical connection. The left figures face each other with a shared umbilical area, while the right figures show the configuration of their backs and limbs. A long handwritten German inscription at the bottom provides a witness account of their birth, location, and baptism.
In the 16th century, 'monstrous births' were studied within natural philosophy as prodigia—divine omens or significant deviations in nature that required interpretation. This work reflects the era's intersection of observational science and the esoteric belief that anomalies in the natural world signaled spiritual or political shifts.
Inscriptions(German)
1512 AD Item do man zahlt nach Christi gepurt 1512 Jar do ist ein solch kint In peyrland geporen worden wie oben jm gemell angezeigt ist In der herrschaft von Werdenberg land jn ein dorff ertingen genant Bey nechst bey ridlingen auff dem zwaintzigsten tag des heu-monat und sy wurden getauft das eine hiebt Elspet und das ander Margret.
Translation
1512 AD Item, in the year 1512 after the birth of Christ, such a child was born in Bavaria as is indicated in the illustration above, in the lordship of Werdenberg, in a village named Ertingen, quite near to Riedlingen, on the twentieth day of the month of July, and they were baptized, the one named Elspet and the other Margret.
Connected Texts
Paracelsus
Paracelsus wrote extensively on the nature of 'monsters' and birth defects as products of the imagination or celestial influence within the 'Light of Nature.'
Conrad Lycosthenes
His 'Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon' catalogs similar natural wonders and anomalies as prophetic signs.
Collections
Provenance & Source
Object
Engraving
anatomical
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
[1]
Public domain
821 × 617 px
3aa68556a7df522e35ae77aeb2b6a9353176c689
July 2, 2007
March 24, 2026
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 1, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.