Griffins in Art and on the Web

This site holds more than 750 resources about griffins (a.k.a. Griffons, Gryphons) including pictures of griffins of every imaginable type, and links to the best griffin websites.

Griffins in Art (over 525 pictures)

I'd like to think this website provides a sort of history of art through griffins. There are, in any case, a lot of pictures—everything I could find, from Antiquity (almost 100 images) to contemporary fantasy art, presented in thumbnails with links to the original artists and websites.

Griffins on the Web

This site links to over 200 other web resources, a very large chunk of what's on the web. It includes summaries of griffin mythology, griffins in literature, griffin merchandise, a special section on hippogriffs, and so forth. (See the left-hand bar for a complete list.)

Get Involved!

This site tries to catalogue as much of the web's griffin art as possible. For that, I'm going to need help? Know of griffin art I missed? Did you just finished a new griffin? Send me the URL and I'll be sure to list you and your art. Email me at [email protected].

Add yourself to my Griffin list, and get an update when features are added. You'll never get more than one email per month, I promise!

What's New

6 January 2005: Hello Griffin Community!

Making this site has been quite an eye-opener for me. Having done similar sites on Alexander the Great, angels, and mermaids, I was familiar with the great wealth of art on the web, and the tendency for topics to acquire fan groups. I figured this would be true for griffins, but perhaps a little less so because griffins were a "smaller," less-trendy topic. Nothing could prepare me for the truth: 500 Griffin pictures is just a start, and Griffin enthusiasts are in a class all their own.

Two sites stand out, the Gryphon Guild, a remarkable community of griffin fanciers, and James Scott Spaid's Gryphon Pages. As a student of Greek and Latin texts, I found Spaid's work particularly impressive; he's tracked down nearly every ancient reference to griffins. In the coming weeks I hope to add a few items, mostly scholia to works he cites. I am also indebted to Alicia Hamm, whose works virtually comprise my online gallery of griffin stuffies.

So, I come as something of an interloper to the griffin world. For any errors, I beg your forgiveness and ask your help. As may be guessed, I am probably less of a "fan" than many of you—I admit that "anthropomorphic" art does nothing for me—but bring a fresh perspective, and a dogged need to find and catalogue all the griffin art there is. I've provided a start. With your help, perhaps, we can do even more.

Onward and upward!

Tim Spalding
Portland, Maine
[email protected]

PS: If you want to link to this site with a banner, you can find a banner here.