Title:
Insidiosus Auceps (The Cunning Bird Catcher)
Creator/Contributor:
Joannes and Lucas van Doetecum; after Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Netherlandish, ca. 1525-1569; published by Hieronymus Cock,
Dutch, ca. 1510-1570
Date:
ca. 1555-1556
Identifier:
1988.9.12
Format:
Print
Etching and engraving
12 9/16 x 16 5/8
Notes:
Catalogue raisonne: Hollstein 10; van Bastelaer 10; Lebeer 5 (as etched by Hieronymus Cock)
Inscription: Recto, in plate, "BRVEGHEL INVE / h. cock excudit." at l.r. and "INSIDIOSVS AVCEPS" below design at center lower
edge; Verso, Baumfeld's stamp in red ink at l.r.
Provenance: Rudolf L. Baumfeld, Los Angeles; William Schab, New York
This print is one of a series of thirteen landscapes after Pieter Bruegel published by Hieronymus Cock. The series, dated
about 1555-56, was one of the earliest collaborations between Bruegel and Cock. Each print in the series depicts a sweeping
"universal landscape" with a narrative scene in the foreground. In this case the scene depicts a bird catcher returning from
the hunt with a load of birds. In fifteenth- and sixteenth-century German prints, the motif of the bird catcher with his trap
symbolizes the Devil, who sets a trap to snare human souls. The title of the print implies that the subject has this meaning
as well. The allegorical meaning of the print is, however, secondary to Bruegel's interest in illustrating sweeping vistas
with views of high mountains and the sea.
Subject:
hunting; birds; landscapes (representations); valleys (landforms)