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Inscription

Upper center in brown ink: EX MVSCA ELEPHANTEM.; insects in image numbered .1., 2., .3., .4., .5., .6., and .7., in red ink; center right in brown ink: LXI.
Facing page:
Upper center in red ink: Cervellum nobis frangunt gridando cicadae: / Vexat mastinos musca tavana canes. (“The cicadas shatter our brains with their chirping; a horsefly can harass blood-hounds.”) (trans. Vignau-Wilberg 1994, 74)

Provenance

Emperor Rudolph of Austria; Lessing J. Rosenwald, Alverthorpe, PA; gift to NGA, 1987.

Exhibition History

1998
A Collector's Cabinet, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1998, no. 76.
1999
From Botany to Bouquets: Flowers in Northern Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1999, no. 45, as Iris from Animalia Rationalia et Insecta (Ignis).
2002
Deceptions and Illusions: Five Centuries of Trompe l'Oeil Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2002-2003, no. 30, as Ignis (Animalia Rationalia et Insecta) Plate 47.

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