print
- Museum number
- Sheepshanks.980
- Description
-
The elephant 'Hansken'; The same elephant shown twice in a landscape; one in right foreground in frontal view; the other in left middle distance in profile to right. 1646
Etching and drypoint
- Production date
- 1646
- Dimensions
-
Height: 374 millimetres
-
Width: 454 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- For a black chalk drawing of 'Hansken' by Rembrandt and comment see Gg,2.259. The animal was born in 1630 in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and shows signs of age and being in bad shape: bow-legged, bulging belly due to poor nutrition and overgrown toenails.
Literature: M. Roscam Abbing, 'Rembrandt's Elephant: The Story of Hansken', Amsterdam, 2006, pp.36-37.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
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’
2021-2022 12 Nov-27 Feb, Birmingham, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Miss Clara and the celebrity beast in art 1500-1860
- Acquisition date
- 1836
- Acquisition notes
- For the history of the acquisition of the Sheepshanks collection, please see Sheepshanks.1
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- Sheepshanks.980
- Additional IDs
-
Other BM number: S.980
