Album Sheet with a Bison

The bison’s head is slightly too large, its horns twist too far back, and its tail does not hang straight down. The artist probably did not study this animal from life. Yet bisons were not completely unknown in Europe during the 16th century. For instance, Margaret of Austria kept ‘wild cows’ in her menagerie in Leuven, and Emperor Maximilian I of Austria was presented with a gift of five bisons when he visited Nuremberg in 1501.