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Object Type
Museum number: 1866,0407.12
Description: The Big Fish Eat the Little Fish; two men and a child in a boat in foreground, one of the men pointing to an enormous fish behind them, the stomach of which is being cut open by another man to reveal a great number of fish that it has eaten; more fish spill from its mouth; various other fish, both in the water and walking on land in the process of eating fish smaller than themselves; fourth state with Latin, French and Dutch verse in upper-right margin; after Pieter Bruegel the Elder Engraving
Producer name: Print made by: Pieter van der Heyden; After: Pieter Bruegel the Elder; Formerly attributed to: Hieronymus Bosch; Published by: Joannes Galle
School/style
Production date: 1557
Materials
Technique
Dimensions: Height: 227 millimetres; Width: 296 millimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: This is the fourth state, for an impression of first state and comment see also 1875,0710.2651. This is a second edition of a print originally dated 1557 and published by Hieronymus Cock; Cock's address, the date, and the printmaker's monogram have all been erased.
Bibliographic references: New Hollstein (Dutch & Flemish) / The New Hollstein: Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts 1450-1700 (31.IV) (Pieter Bruegel the Elder); Bastelaer 1908 / Les estampes de Peter Bruegel l'ancien (139.II); Lebeer 1969 / Catalogue raisonné des estampes de Bruegel l'ancien (16.III); Hollstein / Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts c.1450-1700 (139.II) (after Pieter Bruegel the Elder)
Location: Not on display
Exhibition history: 2004 Jan-April, London, National Gallery, 'Bosch and Bruegel:...' 2013 Oct-Dec, Warwickshire, Compton Verney, Curious Beasts 2014 March-May, Belfast, Ulster Museum, Curious Beasts 2014 June-Aug, Hull, Ferens Art Gallery, Curious Beasts 2014 Oct-Dec, San Diego, University Galleries, Curious Beasts 2016-2017 21 Oct-5 Feb, Adelaide, South Australian Museum: ‘Curious Beasts’
Subjects: fisherman/fishing; fish; proverb
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1866
Department: Prints and Drawings
Registration number: 1866,0407.12
Conservation: Treatment: 08 Apr 2004; Treatment: 09 Dec 2003

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