Venationes ferarum, avium, piscium (Hunts of wild animals, birds and fish). Plate 14. The Emperor...

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 (though it is not signed by him and may be by his brother Adriaen); 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 <em>Crucifixion</em>, in Te Papa's collection).

These proved so popular that in 1596 Galle published the ambitious, 105 plate volume <em>Venationes, ferarum, arium, piscium </em>(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 extraordinary scene depicts the Emperor Commodus, standing precariously on a ledge in an arena, shooting an arrow at an tiger let loose from his cage, thereby saving the life of the man about to be attacked.  The Renaissance Latin inscription, immediately below the image, has been kindly translated by Tim Smith, Victoria University of Wellington: 'Suspended in its cage in the theatre, a ravenous tiger bursts forth from his bonds, and leaping towards the unarmed man. To prevent the wild beast from tearing him to pieces, Commodus holds off it with a bow, shooting his arrow into the beast’s flank.' The likely response of most contemporaries would have been 'How brave of Commodus', but it is not widely shared today.

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