Plate 50: A Crocodile, a Hippopotomus, a Land Crocodile or Tegu Lizard(?), and a Crocodile or Spiny-Tailed Lizard with a Papyrus Plant

c.1575/1590s

Joris Hoefnagel

Associated Names
Joris Hoefnagel

Artist, Flemish, 1542 - 1600

This is a painting of a riverbank scene featuring several animals. The crocodile is on the bank of a river under a gentle curve of green plants, with a boar and two lizards against a backdrop of water and tall grasses. The scene is enclosed within an oval frame. The crocodile is in the foreground, its textured scales rendered in detail, while the river reflects a light blue hue. A boar grazes on the green terrain, and tall grasses and palm-like plants set the boundary between land and the river. Latin inscriptions are above the oval frame. This is in the style of Albrecht Dürer.

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

    1987.20.6.51

  • Series Title

    Vol.II, Animalia Qvadrvpedia et Reptilia (Terra)

Associated Artworks

See all 71 artworks
This is a book cover made of a worn, deep red material with a thin gold border around the edge. It bears the word "TERRA" embossed in the center in gold lettering. The cover has decorative metal clasps - two on the right side, one on the top, and one on the bottom - made of an aged golden material. The leather shows signs of wear, like scratches and scuff marks.

Animalia Qvadrvpedia et Reptilia (Terra)

Joris Hoefnagel

1575

This image shows an ornate title page. The title "ANIMALIA QUADRUPEDIA ET REPTILIA" is in the center in classical lettering. The design features decorative motifs such as scrollwork, floral patterns, and ribbons. At the top, there is a small emblem labeled "TERRA" with a landscape illustration. The color scheme includes pastel colors with earth tones. A Latin phrase is displayed in a ribbon-like frame towards the bottom.

Title Page

Joris Hoefnagel

1570

Plate 1: Elephant with Insects

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 red ink: FLVMINIS IMPETVS LAETIFICAT CIVITATEM DEI.ps.45. (“The stream of the river makes the city of God joyful.” Psalms 45:5) (Latin Vulgate Bible); right center in (gold?): L.; animals in image numbered .1., 2., .3.,.4., and .5.; lower center in black/brown ink: QVOD MIHI DEEST TIBI OBEST.
Facing page: upper center in brown ink: Cantate et psallite Deo: Narrate / omnia mirabilia eius ps.104. (“Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk of all his wondrous works.” Psalms 104:2) (Latin Vulgate Bible); lower center in blue/black ink: Iustus ut PALMA florebit: sicut cedrus libani / Multiplicabitur ps: 91 (“The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” Psalms 91:13) (Latin Vulgate Bible)

Wikidata ID

Q64590877

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