Plate 48: Guinea Pig and Hedgehogs with Melon and Cobnuts

c.1575/1590s

Joris Hoefnagel

Associated Names
Joris Hoefnagel

Artist, Flemish, 1542 - 1600

This painting shows two animals in an oval frame, both standing on a brown branch, facing the left. On the left is a rodent-like creature with smooth fur that is mostly cream-colored, but with spots of pale yellow and black on its face and back. On the right is a hedgehog with spiky brown and gray quills. Below the branch they stand on is a melon with green stripes surrounded by large green leaves. On the right, the branch merges with a patch of pale green ground, upon which is a spiky gray ball, possibly a second hedgehog that has curled up to show its spikes. Above the animals is a branch with acorns, flowers, and a small sign hanging down, and at the bottom of the painting is a small pond at the bottom right of the circular frame, adding a splash of blue. The background is off-white paper, and outside of the oval border there are several lines of Latin text.

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

    1987.20.6.49

  • Series Title

    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

Title Page

Joris Hoefnagel

1570

Plate 1: Elephant with Insects

Joris Hoefnagel

1570

More About this Artwork

This is an illustration of three dragonflies of different colors and sizes against a plain tan background. The central dragonfly is the largest, with transparent wings and a blue striped body with brown segments. To the left, there is a smaller red dragonfly with veined wings that appear to have some damage. On the right, there is another small yellow dragonfly with similarly damaged wing patterns. The two smaller dragonflies are turned to face the bottom and angled diagonally towards the left and right corners, while the largest dragonfly faces directly upwards. The dragonflies are encircled by a golden border, and the numerals "LIV." are to their right.

Interactive Article:  The Marvelous Details of Joris Hoefnagel’s Animal and Insect Studies

Scroll to discover tiny brushstrokes, hidden meanings, and the immense impact on our understanding of the natural world.

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

Exhibition History

2025

  • Little Beasts: Art Wonder and the Natural World, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2025.

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 black ink: Multa sagax vulpes, unum tamen hirtus Echinus / Novit, qua mundi parte flet aura vaga. (“The wise fox has discerned many things, the rough hedgehog just one: on which side of the world the vagrant wind blows.”) (trans. Bass 2019, 207); upper center in (gold?): EX SCABRO IN LEVE[M] NV[M]QVA[M] VERTETVR ECHINUS. (“The rough hedgehog will never be made smooth.” Erasmus, Adages, 2.9.59) (trans. Bass 2019, 207); right center in black ink: XXXXVIII.; on plaque tied to tree branch on right in red ink: VIS NVLLA SED ERROR (“No strength is anything but an error.”) (trans. Bass 2019, 207); on branch under hedgehog in (gold?): MEA ME VIRTUTE INVOLVO (“I wrap myself in my virtue.” Horace, Odes/Carmina, 3.29.54-55) (trans. Bass 2019, 265); animals in image numbered .1. and .2., in red ink; lower center in red ink: ARS VARIA VVLPI, AST VNA ECHINO MAXIMA. (“The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog one big thing.” Erasmus, Adages, 1.5.18) (trans. Bass 2019, 207)
Facing page: upper center in green/blue ink: Insidias cum forte strui presentit Echinus / Mox sua se spinis clausus in arma globat: / Involuit virtute sua se quisq[ue], tueri / Qui contra sortis se mala mille studet. A: Steckelius: Can[ebat]. (Stockelius?) (“When the hedgehog perceives snares devised by the mighty, / He soon curls himself up, closed within the defenses of his spines. / Whoever wraps himself in his own virtue / Applies himself to guarding against a thousand evils of fortune.”) (trans. Bass 2019, 208); middle center in black ink: Corporibus rigidis mira est prudentia parvis, / Vndiq[ue] diripiunt fructus hyemique reponunt. / Pomorum super hi cumulos se saepe volutant, / Inde domum redeunt onerati tergora pomis.; lower center in brown ink: Spargite humum foliis, inducite fontibus umbras / Pastores: mandat fieri sibi talia, Christus.

Wikidata ID

Q64590874

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