I got a book “Lucanus cervus depictus”, which covers arts and culture with an European stag beetle “Lucanus cervus”.

The book contains 239 beautiful pictures of art. The oldest one dates back to 4000 B.C. and the newest ones come to 21 st century. There are chapters of mythology, art, entomology and decoration/illustration. In the chapter of art, there are many arts with the stag beetle drawn in 16-18 st century.

Previously I wrote that many Japanese (especially children) are enthusiastic to stag beetles and the culture is not common worldwide (link). It would be true recently, but the situation might be different in the past. At least in the field of art, the stag beetle can be a motif in Europe (can we find any Japanese art with stag beetles in the Medieval Period like 16-18 st century?). Aside from art, the stag beetle has many local name there (link). These facts allow me to imagine that the stag beetle was somewhat close to European people’s life.

You can find more about this book here.
http://maria.fremlin.de/stagbeetles/lcdepictus.html