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Description
Both sylphs and gnomes were invented by the Swiss alchemist Paracelsus in the sixteenth century as part of his cosmology to reconcile mythological "demons" with Christianity. He wrote of creatures associated with the four classic elements, giving two names for each: sylphs/sylvestres for air, gnomes/pygmies for earth, nymphs/undines for water, and salamanders/vulcani for fire. All the elementals were said to be neither man nor beast, created by God but not of the earth like Adam, and able to move through their element like a human can move through air. He also described them as "subtle", meaning something like "invisible" or "undetectable", yet also said quite a bit about how they look and interact with humans. He described sylphs as air elementals, rougher, coarser, taller, and stronger than humans, who could move through the air as easily as a human could through...air. So, basically a bigger, buffer human. That's boring, so let's look to seventeenth-century French maybe-satirist-maybe-not Abbé de Montfaucon de Villars, who anonymously wrote Comte de Gabalis and invented the word "sylphid" to specifically refer to female sylphs. Sylphs then began appearing in art and literature as nymph- or fairy-like ethereal women, and the term "sylphlike" came to mean "slender and graceful"--ironic, considering Paracelsus' original description of them. Personally I like to think of sylphs as flying elves, because otherwise how are they even air elementals? This one seems to be a mix of those descriptions: big (see how tiny her feet are?), beautiful, and presumably capable of powered flight.

Gnomes (also called "pygmies" by Paracelsus--whole lot of baggage there), on the other hand, were described by Paracelsus as being two spans high and able to see through AND walk through earth as if it were air. (What exactly are they walking ON? A mystery for the ages.) He also said gnomes were like phantoms, agile and swift; he also said they serve people sometimes, and shower treasures upon them. The ones pictured are to be applauded for breaking such stereotypes.

Description
Both sylphs and gnomes were invented by the Swiss alchemist Paracelsus in the sixteenth century as part of his cosmology to reconcile mythological "demons" with Christianity. He wrote of creatures associated with the four classic elements, giving two names for each: sylphs/sylvestres for air, gnomes/pygmies for earth, nymphs/undines for water, and salamanders/vulcani for fire. All the elementals were said to be neither man nor beast, created by God but not of the earth like Adam, and able to move through their element like a human can move through air. He also described them as "subtle", meaning something like "invisible" or "undetectable", yet also said quite a bit about how they look and interact with humans. He described sylphs as air elementals, rougher, coarser, taller, and stronger than humans, who could move through the air as easily as a human could through...air. So, basically a bigger, buffer human. That's boring, so let's look to seventeenth-century French maybe-satirist-maybe-not Abbé de Montfaucon de Villars, who anonymously wrote Comte de Gabalis and invented the word "sylphid" to specifically refer to female sylphs. Sylphs then began appearing in art and literature as nymph- or fairy-like ethereal women, and the term "sylphlike" came to mean "slender and graceful"--ironic, considering Paracelsus' original description of them. Personally I like to think of sylphs as flying elves, because otherwise how are they even air elementals? This one seems to be a mix of those descriptions: big (see how tiny her feet are?), beautiful, and presumably capable of powered flight.

Gnomes (also called "pygmies" by Paracelsus--whole lot of baggage there), on the other hand, were described by Paracelsus as being two spans high and able to see through AND walk through earth as if it were air. (What exactly are they walking ON? A mystery for the ages.) He also said gnomes were like phantoms, agile and swift; he also said they serve people sometimes, and shower treasures upon them. The ones pictured are to be applauded for breaking such stereotypes.