Leonardo could never be accused of doing things half-heartedly. When asked to paint a fearsome picture on to a shield he decided to produce an image that would strike fear into the hearts of all who saw it. This would be a truly ugly creature designed to rival the dreaded head of Medusa, which was said to turn all those who looked directly upon it to stone.

Rather than simply paint from the imagination, he decided to assemble his monster by using bits of real lizards, serpents, bats and other far from cuddly creatures.

This approach indicated the importance that Leonardo was already attaching to observation, and to the role of imagination in creating fantastic combinations of things seen.

And what was his recipe for making the ultimate scary monster? In his own words:

“…if you wish to make your imaginary animal seem natural…take for the head that of a mastiff or a hound, the eyes of a cat, the ears of a porcupine, the nose of a greyhound, the brow of a lion, the temples of an old cock, and the neck of a turtle”. Oh, and don’t forget the oregano…