H.P. Lovecraft: Front view drawing of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft references “Cirripedia - Rankenkreble” , plate 57, Kunstformen der Natur, (published 1904) by Ernst Haeckel ?

leading from

H.P. Lovecraft: Front view drawing of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft

and

“Cirripedia - Rankenkreble” , plate 57, Kunstformen der Natur, (published 1904) by Ernst Haeckel

a) Drawing of a front view of Cthulhu statue (For a letter dated 11th May 1934) by HP Lovecraft

b) References  “Cirripedia - Rankenkreble” , plate 57, Kunstformen der Natur, (published 1904) by Ernst Haeckel ?

I think of Kunstformen der Natur as a book that might be the nearest thing to Lovecraft’s Necronomicon in terms of pictures, but without the spells, and in this book he could allow his mind to run riot in these illustrations based upon nature that are almost like hallucinations, and here we see what had been transformed into the front view of the statue of a seated Cthulhu.

This arrangement of sea creatures appears to me to be a reinterpretation of Eliphas Levi’s Baphomet illustration which seemed to be a curious quirky character that a lot of artists were playing around with in one way or another.

c.ii) The two side by side. Well it looks almost as if Lovecraft had been more inspired by perhaps the likes of AA Milne’s Winnie The Pooh drawings, but there seems to be enough to compare it to the Haeckel

c.iii) Creature at egg top becomes the head of Cthulhu with the legs becoming the place for its tentacles and the front claws becoming the place for its eyes. 

c.iv) Decorations on the podium become the claws on the feet while the tendrils leading down become the legs.

c.v) Main claw on the left becomes the left arm

c.vi) Claws on the right near enough become the claws on the left

c.vii) Creature on the right near enough becomes the claws on the right.