Plate 14: A "Sea Ape," Two Scorpion Fish, and Two Other Fish

c.1575/1590s

Joris Hoefnagel

Associated Names
Joris Hoefnagel

Artist, Flemish, 1542 - 1600

The image contains five fish-like creatures within an oval frame. The first creature resembles a seal or mermaid, the second is a long, slender green fish, the third is a spiky, bulbous-headed pink fish, the fourth is a wide-bodied blue fish with a long tail, and the fifth is a flat, brown, worm-like creature on the seabed. The background shows a light blue water surface and a light brown seabed. The creatures are arranged diagonally from the top left to the bottom right, with the seabed in the foreground. A gold oval border surrounds the scene, with text above and below.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    watercolor and gold paint on parchment

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Mrs. Lessing J. Rosenwald

  • Dimensions

    page size (approximate): 14.3 x 18.4 cm (5 5/8 x 7 1/4 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1987.20.7.15

  • Series Title

    Animalia Aqvatilia et Cochiliata (Aqva)

Associated Artworks

See all 59 artworks
This seems to be a red, leather-bound book with gold embellishments. The book cover features the word "AQVA" embossed in gold lettering at the center. The right side, top, and bottom of the book have golden clasps with three rivet-like details on each of them. The red leather surface displays wear and age, with visible scratches and areas of darker discoloration. The edges of the cover are lined with a thin, gold border.

Animalia Aqvatilia et Cochiliata (Aqva)

Joris Hoefnagel

1575

This is a drawing of an ornately decorated title page featuring the title "ANIMALIA AQVATILIA ET CÖCHILIATA" in the center. The border surrounding the text includes pastel-colored decorative elements such as ribbons, tassels, floral motifs, and beads. At the top, there is an aquatic-themed decoration with a vessel labeled "AQVA" releasing stylized water arcs. The drawing is framed with delicate scrollwork.

Title Page

Joris Hoefnagel

1570

Two turtles and a gray rodent are in or around a trickling stream within an oval, painted frame in this horizontal watercolor painting. A russet-brown turtle swims or lies in the shallow stream near the bottom center of the oval. A number 1 appears near its face. Labeled number 2, the second turtle lies on its back on the riverbank to our left to show its ivory-white underbelly. Pebbles and a few shells line the stream. The gray rodent, numbered 3, is about a quarter the size of the turtles. Outlined against the blank background beyond the riverbank, it hunches its oval body and wraps its long, sinewy tail close to its body. One tiny front paw is raised, and its mouth pulls back to reveal minuscule sharp teeth. Writing in all caps and red ink above the oval reads, “IPSI TESTVDINES EDITE QVI CEPISTIS.” Text in dark, golden yellow, the same color as the painted oval, reads, “DOMVS AMICA DOMVS OPTA.” The number 1 appears to the right of the oval.

Plate 1: Two Loggerhead or Green Sea Turtles, a Muskrat, and Shells

Joris Hoefnagel

1570

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Emperor Rudolf II of Austria?[1]; Secretarius Heinrich Hagen, Vienna, 1611.[2] Count Emanuel Maria Joseph von Arco, Munich, 1751.[3] Graf von Seinsheim, canon of Salzburg and Speyer, 1753. Master stonemason Rüpfel, Munich, c. 1830. Joseph Anton Niggl [1792 - 1842], Markt Tölz. Karl August von Brentano [1817 - 1896], Augsburg. (sale, Rudolph Weigel, 28 October 1861, no. 2220-a-d]; (Frederick Startridge Ellis [active 1860 - 1885], London; formerly identified as F. S. Eliot)[3]; Henry Huth [1815 - 1878], London; by descent to his son, Alfred Henry Huth [1850 - 1910], London; (sale, Sotheby's' London, 12 June 1913, no. 3722); (William Wesley & Son, London); Charles Francis George Richard Schwerdt, Old Alresford House, Hampshire (his sale, Sotheby's' London, 15 July 1946, no. 2216); (The Rosenbach Company, Philadelphia); Lessing J. Rosenwald, Jenkintown; given to Edith Goodkind Rosenwald, Jenkintown; gift to NGA, 1987.
[1] Although Van Mander claims the series was commissioned and purchased by Rudolf, this is impossible as dates scattered throughout volumes pre-date Hoefnagel's' contact with Rudolf. The series does not appear in Rudolf's' inventory, though he is likely to have owned it at one time as many copies from the volumes appear in his natural history collections, now in Vienna (see Bass 2020, 12).
[2] Vignau-Wilberg 2017, 98 without documentation.
[3]Wolfgang Wegner, Kurfurst Carl Theodor von der Pfalz als Kunstsammler, Mannheim, 1960: 13.
[4] Ellis was a book dealer who frequently sold to Huth and wrote the catalogue of Huth's' collection. He started his own business just a year before The Four Elements appeared at Weigel. Ellis is correctly identified by M. Bartels, "Ueber abnorme Behaarung beim Menschen," Zeitschrift fu¨r Ethnologie 11 (1879): 155, note 1.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1984

  • Hendrix, Lee. Joris Hoefnagel and the Four Elements: a Study in Sixteenth-Century Nature Painting. Ph.D. Hendrix, Lee. Joris Hoefnagel and the Four Elements: a Study in Sixteenth-Century Nature Painting. Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1984 (series).dissertation, Princeton University, 1984 (series).

2017

  • Vignau-Wilberg, Thea. Joris and Jacob Hoefnagel: Art and Science around 1600. Berlin, 2017: no. A6 (for series).

2019

  • Bass, Marisa Ann. Insect Artifice: Nature and Art in the Dutch Revolt. Princeton, 2019 (for series).

Inscriptions

upper center in black ink: PRO PERCA SCORPIVM; creatures in image numbered .1., .2, .3., .4., and .5. in red ink: center right in brown ink: XIV.; lower center in (gold?): Increpuit MARE RVBRVM et exiccatum est et deduxit / eos in abyssis sicut in deserto .ps:105. (“He rebuked the Red Sea, and it was dried up; and he led them through the depths, as in a wilderness.” Psalms 105:9) (Latin Vulgate Bible)
Facing page: upper center in violet (green?) ink: Terribilis Dominus, et magnus vehementer / et mirabilis potentia eius .Ecc:43. (“The Lord is terrible, and exceeding great, and his power is admirable.” Ecclesiasticus 43:31) (Latin Vulgate Bible); lower center in red (green?) ink: Transivimus per ignem et AQVAM et / Eduxit nos in refrigerium ps.54. (“We have passed through fire and water, and you have brought us out into a refreshment.” Psalms 65:12) (Latin Vulgate Bible)

Wikidata ID

Q64590913

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