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Men Hunting Bulls with Eagles

Jan van der Straet, called Stradanus, Flemish, 1523–1605

In a landscape of rolling terrain, men use birds to hunt wild bulls. Trees frame the composition at left and right, and the hunters appear on horseback in the background at right. Two bulls have fallen in the foreground, while others gallop through the center of the image. The birds—traditionally identified as falcons, although possibly eagles—alight on the heads of their prey, likely blinding them. This hunting method is probably described in an as yet unidentified ancient text.

Date

ca. 1600

Type

Drawing

Medium

Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, white heightening on buff laid paper

Department

CHNDM

Institution

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Object number

chndm_2019-5-1

Credit

Museum purchase from the Members' Acquisitions Fund of Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum