SAENREDAM Jan P. (1565 - 1607) - "Whale stranded... Lot 43

SAENREDAM Jan P. (1565 - 1607) - "Whale stranded on the beach at Beverwijk". 1602. Etching and burin. Ref: Bartsch, no. 11. Hollstein, n°121. Rare proof of the 1st state out of 3, before the plate was reworked. This proof is a print from 1602 before the plate was reworked in 1618, to illustrate another calamity that befell the Dutch Republic after the arrival of the whale (This later state of Saenredam's print adds, in the upper left below the border, a skeleton slaughtering the Amsterdam maid, in reference to the plague of 1601-02). In the margin eight columns of text, each four lines by "Schrevelius". During the seventeenth century, whales, of various species and sizes, were stranded on the coasts of the Netherlands. "Rare, large or rarely seen animals can become real spectacles. This is the case of cetaceans - important in the culture of the Dutch, who hunt them in the Arctic seas - when they come to be stranded on the beaches. On December 19, 1601, a male sperm whale washed up on the beach of Beverwijk, not far from Amsterdam and Harleem, where the engraver Jan Saenredam worked. This event attracted crowds of curious people from all walks of life: the print shows the visit of Ernst-Casimir, Count of Nassau-Dietz, first cousin of the Prince of Orange. The 29-year-old is wearing a handkerchief to his nose because of the stench of the animal. The artist represented himself drawing the sperm whale" (BNF). 40,8 x 59 cm on the subject. Condition C (cut at the subject and formerly laminated, some accidents and corners filled, as is)