# Snails in Art and the Art of Snails

- Institution: Gresham College
- Speaker: Professor Steve Jones
- Year: 2014
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: History, Art, architecture and design
- Source: [Gresham College](https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/snails-art-and-art-snails)
- Licence: [Educational use (Gresham College's terms)](https://www.gresham.ac.uk/terms-and-conditions)
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

Snails play a surprising part in art. Dali used them as images of impotence, while medieval painters included them in paintings of the Virgin Mary, due to the belief that their shells meant that their modesty was protected and they reproduced without sex. Gravestones are sometimes etched with snail images for they are seen as creatures that undergo resurrection when, after a long period of drought, it rains and thousands of snails that had been dried up start crawling around.

## Lectures

1. [Snails in Art and the Art of Snails](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/gresham/snails-art-and-art-snails/47e66bf739a5) (YouTube)