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

Exhibition History

1982

Bibliography

1984

2017

2019

Inscriptions

Upper center in red/violet ink: Saturabuntur ligna campi, et cedri libani quas / Plantavit. Illic PASSERES nidificabunt ps.103. (“The trees of the field shall be filled, and the cedars of Libanus, which he has planted / There the sparrows shall make their nests.” Psalms 103:16-17) (Latin Vulgate Bible); center right in (gold?): XXXV.; birds in image numbered .1., .2., .3., and .4., in red ink; lower center in (gold?): Etenim passer invenit sibi domum: Et Turtur / Nidum sibi ubi ponat pullos suos.ps.85. (“The sparrow has found herself a house, and the turtle dove a nest where she may lay her young ones.” Psalms 83:4) (Latin Vulgate Bible)
Facing page: Upper center in black ink: Annunciaverunt Coeli Iustitiam eius: Et / Viderunt omnes populi gloriam eius.ps:96. (“The heavens declare his righteousness and all the people see his glory.” Psalms 96:6) (Latin Vulgate Bible); lower center in black ink: Glotorat immenso de turre Ciconia rostro: / Pessimus at Passer iustia flendo pipit.

Wikidata ID

Q64590995