Long before Lord of the Rings, people told stories about elves.
But these elves weren't the beautiful forest-dwellers of modern fantasy — they were something far more ancient and strange.
And they could be deadly.
Here's what elves were really like in the medieval mind… 🧵
5. Shen Zhou (1427-1509)
Shen Zhou was one of the later artists in the long and time-honoured tradition of landscape painting at the Chinese courts.
This was about capturing the essence of a landscape rather than its mere outward appearance.
Poetry as painting.