OUT OF IDEAS
What artists kept painting, carving and engraving for 29 centuries, based on more than a million works and objects held in French museums.
The bestiary
Which animals, real or mythical, inhabit the works across the centuries?
Share of animal mentions
View the data as a table
| Century | Bird | Horse | Dog | Lion | Fish | Snake | Cat | Monkey | Dragon | Griffin | Mermaid | Centaur | Unicorn |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8th century BC | 36% | 26% | 3.2% | 9.0% | 2.2% | 7.9% | 2.4% | 8.5% | 2.9% | 0.2% | 1.2% | 0.2% | 0% |
| 7th century BC | 44% | 12% | 5.2% | 21% | 1.1% | 3.8% | 2.1% | 4.0% | 0.2% | 3.1% | 3.9% | 0.1% | 0% |
| 6th century BC | 31% | 17% | 5.7% | 22% | 1.2% | 4.7% | 0.8% | 1.8% | 0.4% | 2.3% | 13% | 0.7% | 0% |
| 5th century BC | 34% | 19% | 9.4% | 15% | 1.2% | 6.1% | 1.8% | 3.4% | 0.1% | 1.4% | 5.9% | 2.7% | 0% |
| 4th century BC | 32% | 18% | 9.8% | 18% | 2.7% | 4.5% | 1.9% | 4.2% | 0.1% | 8.2% | 0.4% | 0.1% | 0% |
| 3rd century BC | 28% | 22% | 18% | 14% | 1.9% | 4.1% | 0.3% | 2.6% | 0.2% | 7.1% | 0.8% | 1.3% | 0% |
| 2nd century BC | 19% | 30% | 17% | 14% | 1.3% | 6.3% | 0.4% | 2.0% | 0.9% | 4.3% | 4.0% | 0.2% | 0.9% |
| 1st century BC | 32% | 21% | 12% | 17% | 3.1% | 5.9% | 2.9% | 1.9% | 0.3% | 2.5% | 1.3% | 0.4% | 0% |
| 1st century | 38% | 15% | 15% | 14% | 4.1% | 6.1% | 1.0% | 1.0% | 0.2% | 3.7% | 0.6% | 1.0% | 0% |
| 2nd century | 34% | 17% | 14% | 17% | 4.6% | 7.2% | 0.7% | 1.1% | 0.4% | 3.7% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0% |
| 3rd century | 30% | 18% | 13% | 19% | 3.8% | 11% | 0.4% | 1.1% | 0.8% | 2.6% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| 4th century | 26% | 20% | 15% | 18% | 6.3% | 10% | 0.7% | 0.9% | 0.2% | 2.4% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0% |
| 5th century | 28% | 17% | 13% | 20% | 5.9% | 8.3% | 0.8% | 1.5% | 1.0% | 2.2% | 0.4% | 1.5% | 0.6% |
| 6th century | 29% | 11% | 2.6% | 28% | 5.1% | 10% | 0% | 0% | 8.0% | 5.8% | 0% | 1.0% | 0% |
| 7th century | 19% | 6.4% | 3.7% | 16% | 6.5% | 17% | 0.5% | 0.9% | 26% | 4.0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 8th century | 36% | 18% | 2.0% | 21% | 5.9% | 7.4% | 1.0% | 2.0% | 5.0% | 0.6% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 9th century | 32% | 28% | 2.9% | 9.4% | 6.9% | 11% | 1.8% | 0% | 7.0% | 1.0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 10th century | 38% | 24% | 3.5% | 18% | 1.2% | 1.2% | 2.1% | 11% | 0% | 1.2% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 11th century | 21% | 9.9% | 11% | 24% | 7.1% | 7.1% | 0% | 4.0% | 1.7% | 5.4% | 6.8% | 1.7% | 0% |
| 12th century | 27% | 2.8% | 6.3% | 27% | 4.7% | 10% | 0.4% | 1.8% | 8.7% | 3.7% | 6.1% | 1.2% | 0% |
| 13th century | 22% | 9.3% | 11% | 20% | 2.7% | 4.3% | 0% | 5.5% | 21% | 0.6% | 1.4% | 0.3% | 0.9% |
| 14th century | 26% | 16% | 16% | 19% | 2.9% | 0.8% | 0% | 0.6% | 16% | 0.6% | 0.8% | 0.8% | 0.2% |
| 15th century | 19% | 20% | 16% | 14% | 1.6% | 2.5% | 1.2% | 4.1% | 15% | 1.4% | 1.3% | 1.7% | 1.8% |
| 16th century | 24% | 20% | 16% | 16% | 2.5% | 5.7% | 1.1% | 2.0% | 6.1% | 1.5% | 0.9% | 2.0% | 1.4% |
| 17th century | 22% | 26% | 22% | 11% | 4.4% | 4.1% | 2.2% | 2.0% | 3.0% | 0.7% | 0.6% | 0.9% | 0.5% |
| 18th century | 34% | 21% | 21% | 8.4% | 2.5% | 4.2% | 2.1% | 1.9% | 3.6% | 0.7% | 0.5% | 0.7% | 0.3% |
| 19th century | 20% | 36% | 18% | 7.2% | 3.4% | 3.8% | 4.5% | 2.1% | 2.6% | 0.8% | 0.9% | 0.8% | 0.3% |
| 20th century | 27% | 29% | 17% | 5.6% | 6.0% | 3.3% | 5.8% | 2.9% | 1.5% | 0.2% | 1.0% | 1.0% | 0.2% |
| 21st century | 47% | 8.8% | 9.3% | 2.4% | 15% | 3.2% | 4.8% | 3.1% | 1.2% | 0% | 1.4% | 0.7% | 3.1% |
The sacred and the profane
What are the works about? For centuries, gods and saints. Then the world takes over.
Share of works with a recorded subject
View the data as a table
| Century | Bible and saints | Mythology | History | Portrait | Still life | Landscapes and views | Scenes of life |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8th century BC | 0% | 5.8% | 0% | 0.1% | 0% | 0% | 2.4% |
| 7th century BC | 0.1% | 4.9% | 0% | 0.1% | 0% | 0% | 2.1% |
| 6th century BC | 0.1% | 19% | 0% | 0.1% | 0% | 0% | 4.9% |
| 5th century BC | 0.8% | 20% | 0% | 0.0% | 0% | 0% | 8.3% |
| 4th century BC | 0.5% | 19% | 0% | 0.2% | 0% | 0% | 4.4% |
| 3rd century BC | 0.2% | 13% | 0% | 0.2% | 0% | 0% | 2.1% |
| 2nd century BC | 0.1% | 19% | 0.2% | 1.1% | 0% | 0% | 2.0% |
| 1st century BC | 0.1% | 16% | 0% | 1.0% | 0% | 0.2% | 1.9% |
| 1st century | 0.1% | 16% | 0% | 1.8% | 0.1% | 0.3% | 3.0% |
| 2nd century | 0.1% | 17% | 0.0% | 1.3% | 0% | 0.4% | 2.9% |
| 3rd century | 0.2% | 17% | 0% | 2.7% | 0% | 0.3% | 2.9% |
| 4th century | 2.6% | 13% | 0% | 0.5% | 0% | 0.2% | 1.2% |
| 5th century | 1.8% | 12% | 0.1% | 0.8% | 0% | 0.3% | 1.7% |
| 6th century | 4.6% | 1.2% | 0% | 0.2% | 0% | 0.2% | 5.7% |
| 7th century | 3.6% | 0.0% | 0% | 0.7% | 0% | 0.1% | 1.1% |
| 8th century | 2.5% | 0.6% | 0% | 0.1% | 0% | 0.3% | 3.0% |
| 9th century | 13% | 0.3% | 0% | 0.2% | 0% | 0% | 2.0% |
| 10th century | 8.0% | 2.4% | 1.1% | 0.1% | 0% | 2.5% | 4.0% |
| 11th century | 10% | 0.1% | 0% | 0.1% | 0% | 1.1% | 5.5% |
| 12th century | 18% | 0.2% | 0% | 0.1% | 0% | 0.4% | 3.1% |
| 13th century | 19% | 0.0% | 0% | 0.4% | 0% | 0.9% | 1.5% |
| 14th century | 46% | 0.1% | 0% | 1.7% | 0% | 0.7% | 4.3% |
| 15th century | 50% | 1.1% | 0.4% | 4.2% | 0% | 1.2% | 3.6% |
| 16th century | 33% | 6.4% | 1.2% | 19% | 0.2% | 4.8% | 6.3% |
| 17th century | 21% | 6.7% | 2.5% | 19% | 2.3% | 15% | 9.7% |
| 18th century | 8.3% | 5.3% | 2.3% | 21% | 0.8% | 13% | 11% |
| 19th century | 6.3% | 2.5% | 3.0% | 18% | 0.7% | 20% | 13% |
| 20th century | 3.2% | 0.8% | 0.6% | 12% | 1.3% | 27% | 15% |
| 21st century | 1.2% | 0.2% | 0.2% | 7.8% | 2.3% | 36% | 7.0% |
The nude
Who undresses? Before the common era, mostly men. In the 20th century, overwhelmingly women.
Share of figures of that sex shown nude
View the data as a table
| Century | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| 8th century BC | 5.2% | 11% |
| 7th century BC | 4.0% | 5.8% |
| 6th century BC | 2.5% | 19% |
| 5th century BC | 2.9% | 13% |
| 4th century BC | 4.2% | 25% |
| 3rd century BC | 4.2% | 9.0% |
| 2nd century BC | 6.7% | 21% |
| 1st century BC | 9.5% | 11% |
| 1st century | 16% | 12% |
| 2nd century | 18% | 12% |
| 3rd century | 7.9% | 9.1% |
| 4th century | 8.6% | 9.5% |
| 5th century | 10% | 9.7% |
| 6th century | 23% | 29% |
| 7th century | 10% | 4.5% |
| 8th century | 41% | 12% |
| 9th century | 18% | 1.8% |
| 10th century | 0% | 1.3% |
| 11th century | 19% | 9.3% |
| 12th century | 6.4% | 3.2% |
| 13th century | 0.5% | 2.2% |
| 14th century | 2.3% | 0.8% |
| 15th century | 5.0% | 2.3% |
| 16th century | 12% | 4.0% |
| 17th century | 9.7% | 5.1% |
| 18th century | 8.0% | 6.6% |
| 19th century | 24% | 7.7% |
| 20th century | 32% | 5.2% |
| 21st century | 12% | 2.4% |
How to read these numbers
1,062,908 works and objects analyzed, 954,875 of them datable. 59,751 mention at least one of these animals in their title, subject or description; 3,938 of those have no usable date and stay off the timeline.
Shares are computed among all animal mentions in the period, including those you have hidden. A work showing a dog and a horse counts for both.
A work dated across several centuries is split evenly between them, as are works carrying only a label (“Gallo-Roman”) across the whole of that period. Coins and natural history specimens are excluded throughout, because a single hoard can swamp a whole century. So are the false friends we found: cavalry dragoons, gun hammers (“chien”), horseshoe shapes, the serpent wind instrument…
These numbers reflect what museums kept and described, not what each era actually depicted. Before the 15th century, most centuries have fewer than 300 mentions, barely a few dozen from the 7th to the 11th, and the unfinished 21st has 290. Their shares are fragile.
For the sacred and the profane, each work with a recorded subject falls under a single heading of the Joconde thesaurus, the most specific one. Other subjects (ornaments, single figures, objects) are not shown, so the total stays under 100%. Before the 14th century, most works remain outside these headings.
For the nude, we compare works with a recorded subject where only one sex is named. Any work whose description mentions a child, a Cupid or an adolescent is left out entirely, as are partial nudity and antique-style busts. Each curve has its own total: the two do not add up.