Claes Jansz Visscher

Piscator, Nicolas Joannis

Dutch, 1586/1587 - 1652

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Claes Jansz Visscher, A Barn, 1620, etching, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1975.59.25

A Barn

Claes Jansz Visscher · 1620 · etching ·  Accession ID  1975.59.25

Printed with fine black lines on light tan paper, a whale-sized fish spilling smaller fish from its gaping mouth and a gash in its belly fills a beach in this horizontal engraving. The fish lies on its side with its belly facing us, and one bulging eye peers off to our left. A man wearing a helmet holds a knife twice his own size with the blade up as he cuts the fish’s belly. Fish and scallop shells of all sizes tumble from its cavernous mouth and side. Several fish also have smaller fish in their mouths. On the far side of the fish, a man stands on a ladder braced against the enormous creature, holding a raised trident as he looks down, his face covered by the wide brim of his hat. On the land to our right is another smaller fish with human legs, which carries a fish in its mouth. It passes a man who carries a fish on his back outside a dilapidated cottage as he climbs a ladder leaning against a tree. Two other fish hang from the tree’s branches. Around the shoreline to the left, fish surface with more fish in their mouths. A man and a boy wearing tunics and long headdresses sit in a rowboat close to us, pointing as a second man in the boat holds a knife in his teeth and pulls a small fish from the body of a larger one. The word “ECCE” is inscribe near the pointing man’s hand. Another man sits on the beach further up the shoreline, about to catch a fish using fish as bait. The water stretches back to a town in the far distance. Boats float in the middle distance and some approach another whale-sized fish beached on a small island behind a tall rocky outcropping. About a dozen people with spears gather on the island around that fish. A flock of birds fly in silhouette in the distance beyond the island. A flying creature closer to us has a scaly body, gaping mouth, wavy tail, and teardrop-shaped wings. An inscription in the upper left corner reads, “Grandibus exigui sunt pisces piscibus esca.” The print is signed in the lower left corner, “CJVisscher excud,” with the CJV joined to make a monogram. An inscription printed in the margin under the image reads, “Siet sone dit heb’ick seer lange gheweten Dat die groote Vissen de cleyne eten. P. Breugel inven:.”
Hendrik Hondius I, Claes Jansz Visscher, The Big Fish Eat the Little Fish, c. 1619, engraving, Rosenwald Collection, 1980.45.223

The Big Fish Eat the Little Fish

Hendrik Hondius I, Claes Jansz Visscher · c. 1619 · engraving ·  Accession ID  1980.45.223

Claes Jansz Visscher, Walled Farm, published 1612, etching, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1975.59.11

Walled Farm

Claes Jansz Visscher · published 1612 · etching ·  Accession ID  1975.59.11

Claes Jansz Visscher, A Convent, published 1612, etching, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1975.59.13

A Convent

Claes Jansz Visscher · published 1612 · etching ·  Accession ID  1975.59.13

Claes Jansz Visscher, Town Gate, published 1612, etching, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1975.59.2

Town Gate

Claes Jansz Visscher · published 1612 · etching ·  Accession ID  1975.59.2

Claes Jansz Visscher, Farms in a Village, published 1612, etching, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1975.59.8

Farms in a Village

Claes Jansz Visscher · published 1612 · etching ·  Accession ID  1975.59.8

Claes Jansz Visscher, Castle (Warmond?), published 1612, etching, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1975.59.26

Castle (Warmond?)

Claes Jansz Visscher · published 1612 · etching ·  Accession ID  1975.59.26

Claes Jansz Visscher, Large Sheds, published 1612, etching, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1975.59.21

Large Sheds

Claes Jansz Visscher · published 1612 · etching ·  Accession ID  1975.59.21

Claes Jansz Visscher, A Pond, published 1612, etching, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1975.59.18

A Pond

Claes Jansz Visscher · published 1612 · etching ·  Accession ID  1975.59.18

Claes Jansz Visscher, Village Road, published 1612, etching, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1975.59.20

Village Road

Claes Jansz Visscher · published 1612 · etching ·  Accession ID  1975.59.20