Venationes ferarum, avium, piscium (Hunts of wild animals, birds and fish). Plate 46: Decapitating crocodiles.

This print is very likely the work of three major Flemish figures of the late 16th century: the original artist Jan Van der Straet (a.k.a. Stradanus), the engraver Jan Collaert II and the publisher Philips Galle. The success of Van der Straet's cartoons for a hunting series to decorate the Medici villa at Poggio a Caiano, near Florence (1566-77), led to the leading Flemish publishers Heronymus Cock, and subsequently Galle, to commission related engravings in the 1570s and 1580s. (Galle also engraved/published other works by Van der Straet, including his Crucifixion, in Te Papa's collection).

These proved so popular that in 1596 Galle published the ambitious, 105 plate volume Venationes, ferarum, arium, piscium (Hunts of wild animals, birds and fish), engaging several engravers including Collaert, all based on original drawings by the prolific Van der Straet.  Bird hunts form an important sub-theme. The volume was republished by Philips Galle's son, Johannes, in 1634.

This is one of the more lurid prints in the series. Although the inscription alludes to 'dragons', the victims of decapitation are clearly crocodiles. A translation from the Renaissance Latin is kindly provided by Tim Smith, Victoria University of Wellington: 'In Egypt, do they really believe that there are dragons that produce slicing flames from their crest and hindquarters? And by decorating their ground coverings thus, they might induce a deep sleep with its limbs outspread? Or do they believe that from the severed heads, gems will pour forth?'

See: Chris Michaelis, http://blogs.bl.uk/european/2015/09/joannes-stradanus-and-his-hunting-scenes.html

Dr Mark Stocker     Curator, Historical International Art      March 2017