Op slakkenjacht: oude afbeeldingen van (land)slakken in de kunsthistorie en letterkunde

A brief survey is presented on pictures in art history and literature that (in most cases) can unambiguously be traced to being land snails, either snails or slugs. In medieval manuscripts, several stylised snails may be found around the theme ‘knight versus snail’. In woodcuts and etchings snails become increasingly detailed, while from the late 16th century onwards land snails may be found on still-lives: first on engravings and subsequently on paintings. However, the oldest recognisable species do occur on paintings from the late 15th century and, about 500 years earlier, in an illumination of a medieval text.