Common dolphin
c. 1630-40RCIN 928735
Dolphins were a common sight in Italian coastal waters and would have been classified as fish (rather than mammals) in Cassiano’s time. This drawing was seen by the English naturalist Phillip Skippon in 1662: ‘a dolphin brought to the fishmarket in Rome, having one fin on the middle of the back, a pair of fins under the gills, a longish snout, wide mouth, a forked tail, and well armed with sharp teeth’.