A Clever Song About the Classic Chromolithographs of Cephalopods by Jean Baptiste Vérany

Matthijs Van Mierlo of The Gaze created a clever song about the career of French artist Jean Baptiste Vérany and his iconic chromolithographs of various cephalopods that were featured in his 1851 book Mollusques Méditeranéens.

Jean Baptiste Vérany (1800–1865) was obsessed with cephalopods. And honestly, can you blame him? He even discovered a few new species while researching these sea creatures. Plus, the guy could seriously draw.

Chromolithographs of Cephalopods

As the song states, these chromolithographs became quite famous when Victor Hugo copied one of the images for his 1866 novel Les Travailleurs de la mer (“Toilers of the Sea), which made people afraid of these incredible sea creatures.

The novelist Victor Hugo was a fan, so he copied one of Vérany’s images and used it as the cover for his novel “The Toilers of the Sea”. While Vérany described the creatures as “incapable of harm,” Hugo saw tentacles and thought “perfect villain!” And so, the poor cephalopod got its bad reputation.

Thanks Jason Fields!

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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