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This appears to be the front cover of an old leather-bound book. The book is covered with red leather with the word "IGNIS" embossed in gold in the center. The cover shows signs of wear and aging, with visible scuffs, scratches, and discoloration. There are four brass clasps on the edges of the book: one on the top and bottom edges, and two on the right side.
National Gallery of Art · Volume
Animalia Rationalia et Insecta (Ignis)
Joris Hoefnagel
- Date
- c. 1575/1590s
- Medium
- bound volume of 78 drawings (incl.title page) in watercolor and gold paint on parchment, alternating with pages of ink inscriptions on paper; 2 plates (III, IV) with gold border only (80 total decorated pages)
- Dimensions
- page size (approximate): 14.3 x 18.4 cm (5 5/8 x 7 1/4 in.)
- Classification
- Volume · Drawing
- Accession number
- 1987.20.5
- Credit line
- Gift of Mrs. Lessing J. Rosenwald
- Time span
- 1551 to 1600
- Department
- CG-E
Portfolio and series
- Series
- (see separate records for series 1-81)
Subjects and terms
- allegory
- Flemish
- Fire
- Four Elements
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.
Inscription
Signed with monogram on title page
Marks
C.F.G.R. Schwerdt; Huth
NGA object ID 69668. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.