Inscription
Upper center in violet ink: Omni miraculo quod fit per Hominem maius miraculum est HOMO / visibilium omnium maximus est Mundus, Invisibilium DEVS / sed mundum esse co[n]spicimus, Deum esse Credimus; center right in gold: I; lower center in gold: HOMO natus de MVLIERE, brevi vivens tempore / Repletur multis miserys. Job.14 (“Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.” Job 14:1) (Latin Vulgate Bible)
Facing page:
Upper center in red ink: Pronaq[ue] cum spectent Animalia caetera terram: / Os homini sublime dedit, caelumq[ue] tueri / Iussit, et erectos ad Sydera tollere vultus. (“While other animals look downward at the ground he [the maker of the world] gave human beings an upturned aspect, commanding them to look toward the skies, and, upright, to raise their face to the stars.” Ovid, _Metamorphoses_, 1.84-86, adapted by Hoefnagel) (trans. Bass 2019, 240); middle center in black ink: PETRUS GONSALVS Alumnus REGIS GALLORVM / Ex insulis Canariae ortus: / Me Teneriffa tulit: villos sed Corpore toto / Sparsit opus mirum naturae: Gallia, mater / Altera, me puerum nutrivit adusque virilem / Aetatem: docuitque feros deponere mores, / Ingenuasq[ue] artes, linguamque sonare Latinam. / Contigit et forma praestanti munere Divum / Coniunx, et Thalami charissima pignora nostri. / Cernere naturae licet hinc tibi munera: nati / Quod referunt alii matrem formaq[ue] colore, / Ast alii patrem vestiti crine sequuntur. (“Tenerife bore me, but a miraculous work of nature strewed my whole body with hairs; France, my other mother, nurtured me from a boy up to a virile age, and taught me to cast aside uncivilized manners, to embrace the natural arts, and to speak the Latin tongue. A wife of surpassing beauty befell me by a gift of God, and from our marriage bed came the most beloved children. Here you may discern the munificence of nature: those born to us resemble their mother in form and coloring, yet likewise take after their father, as they too are cloaked in hair.”) (trans. Bass 2019, 239) / Comparuit Monachii boiorum A[o]: 1582:; lower center in red ink: Sed prior h[a]ec Hominis cura est, cognoscere terram / Et quae nunc miranda tulit Natura, notare.
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.
- 2010
- Arcimboldo, 1526-1593: Nature and Fantasy, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Palazzo Reale, Milan, 2010-2011, brochure no. 32 (shown only in Washington).
Related Content
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Associated Records
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- Title Page
- 1987.20.5.1
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- Plate 19: Two Butterflies with Five Other Insects
- 1987.20.5.20
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- Plate 24: Pink Rose
- 1987.20.5.25
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- Plate 25: Blue Underwing Moth and Spurge Hawk Moth
- 1987.20.5.26
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- Plate 26: Two Hawk Moths
- 1987.20.5.27
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- Plate 29: Pink Rose and Rosebud
- 1987.20.5.30
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- Plate 30: Seven Moths
- 1987.20.5.31
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- Plate 31: Seven Moths
- 1987.20.5.32
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- Plate 32: Six Moths
- 1987.20.5.33
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- Plate 35: A Wolf Spider(?) and Three Other Spiders
- 1987.20.5.36
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- Plate 36: Three Large Spiders and One Small Spider
- 1987.20.5.37
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- Plate 37: Seven Spiders and an Insect
- 1987.20.5.38
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- Plate 38: Seven Spiders
- 1987.20.5.39
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- Plate 3: Empty Oval
- 1987.20.5.4
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- Plate 39: Eight Spiders
- 1987.20.5.40
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- Plate 41: Yellow Spider Surrounded by Eight Spiders
- 1987.20.5.42
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- Plate 44: Mantis, Mayfly, and a Fictional Locust
- 1987.20.5.45
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- Plate 45: Two Long-Headed Grasshoppers(?)
- 1987.20.5.46
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- Plate 46: Three Grasshoppers
- 1987.20.5.47
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- Plate 4: Empty Oval
- 1987.20.5.5
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- Plate 52: Four Grasshoppers
- 1987.20.5.53
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- Plate 53: Southern Hawker Dragonfly
- 1987.20.5.54
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- Plate 54: Hairy Dragonfly and Two Darters
- 1987.20.5.55
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- Plate 55: Three Green Dragonflies with Brown Wings
- 1987.20.5.56
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- Plate 56: A Rosebud and a Disintegrating Pink Rose
- 1987.20.5.57
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- Plate 57: A Ladybug, a Fly, and Four Other Insects
- 1987.20.5.58
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- Plate 58: A Bee and Five Other Insects
- 1987.20.5.59
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- Plate 5: Stag Beetle
- 1987.20.5.6
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- Plate 60: Flies and Other Insects
- 1987.20.5.61
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- Plate 61: Seven Insects, Including Flies
- 1987.20.5.62
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- Plate 62: Ten Insects
- 1987.20.5.63
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- Plate 68: Seven Bees and Flies
- 1987.20.5.69
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- Plate 69: Nine Bees and Other Insects
- 1987.20.5.70
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- Plate 70: A Roach Surrounded by Insects
- 1987.20.5.71
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- Plate 71: Two Wasps and a Pill Bug
- 1987.20.5.72
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- Plate 73: Ten Insects
- 1987.20.5.74
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- Plate 74: Insects with White Daffodils
- 1987.20.5.75
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- Plate 75: A Fly and Other Insects with an Iris
- 1987.20.5.76
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- Plate 76: Insects with a Pink and Cream Columbine
- 1987.20.5.77
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- Plate 78: Ten Insects, Including a Blue Fly
- 1987.20.5.79
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- Plate 7: Swallowtail Butterfly
- 1987.20.5.8
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- Plate 79: Twelve Insects, Including Shield Bugs
- 1987.20.5.80
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- Plate 80: Purple and Yellow Viola
- 1987.20.5.81