Another gorgeous old book illustration from Old Book Illustrations, this one from a Belgian natural history text. It’s a beached sperm whale, Physalus cylindricus, nowadays known as Physeter macrocephalus.
It’s an oddly sympathetic portrait to have come out 25 years after Moby-Dick was first published (and nearly 20 years before it was rediscovered by the literary scene). This was the time when these, the largest predators on the planet, were seen as brutal, uncaring forces of nature.
Nowadays, people have the opposite view. Go on, rub his belly. Awwww.