Venationes ferarum, avium, piscium (Hunts of wild animals, birds and fish). Plate 101. Fishing by night.

This print is 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 (unsigned but attributed); 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 print depicts the splendid catches possible through night fishing. The Renaissance Latin inscription has been kindly translated by Tim Smith (Victoria University of Wellington): '

The sport of fishing is a real art. In the evening, the watchful fisherman gets to work in the reddish flame of the lamplight on his platform, and, whether it be placid on the lake, or wavy from the stream, the light tricks the little fish, who leap out owing to the fisherman’s skill.'

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

Dr Mark Stocker           Curator, Historical International Art            March 2017