Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T11:33:11.245Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Poussin’s Elephant

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Louise Rice
Louise Rice*
Affiliation:
New York University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Nicolas Poussin’s “Hannibal Crossing the Alps,” long considered one of his earliest surviving works, is here recognized as a portrait of a historical elephant who visited Rome in 1630 and re-dated accordingly. The article tells the story of this remarkable animal. It traces his passage from South Asia through Portugal, Spain, England, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, and back again to France, and examines his encounters along the way with kings and courtiers, scholars, artists, and traveling showmen, giving insight into the diplomatic and economic uses of exotic animals in early modern Europe. Finally, returning to Poussin, it addresses the implications of the re-dating of the “Hannibal” for our understanding of the painter’s stylistic development and biography.

Type
Research Article
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 70 , Issue 2 , Summer 2017 , pp. 548 - 593
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 Renaissance Society of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bibliography

Archival and Manuscript Sources

“Avvisi di Roma [1630].” Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Urb. Lat. 1100.Google Scholar
“Memoria delle cose che ocorrono nella casa del Santissimo Crocifisso di Casteldurante dall’anno 1628.” Archivio di Stato di Roma, Chierici Regolari Minori, B. 1999.Google Scholar
“Minutes et répertoires du notaire Claude I Ménard [1627].” Archives nationales de France, MC/ET/XXXIX/59. http://www.siv.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/siv/IR/FRAN_IR_042019.Google Scholar
“Minutes et répertoires du notaire Claude I Ménard [1628].” Archives nationales de France, MC/ET/XXXIX/60. http://www.siv.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/siv/IR/FRAN_IR_042019.Google Scholar
“Minutes et répertoires du notaire Claude III de Troyes [Jan–May 1634].” Archives nationales de France, MC/ET/CXXII/1626. http://www.siv.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/siv/IR/FRAN_IR_043576.Google Scholar

Printed Sources

Allacci, Leone Apes Urbanae. Rome: Ludovico Grignani, 1633.Google Scholar
Arblaster, Paul From Ghent to Aix: How They Brought the News in the Habsburg Netherlands, 1550–1700. Leiden: Brill, 2014.10.1163/9789004276840CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Augsburg during the Reform Era : An Anthology of Sources. Ed. and trans. Tlusty, B. Ann. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2012.Google Scholar
Bakker, Boudewijn “Rembrandt en de olifant.” Kunstschrift 4 (1994): 24–29.Google Scholar
Balincourt, E. de. “Avignon de 1520 à 1650 d’après les livres de raison des Merles de Beauchamps.” Mémoires de l’Académie de Nimes 29 (1906): 1–61.Google Scholar
Bartilla, Stefan, and Kubíková, Blanka. “Prenten naar Roelandt.” In Savery. Een kunstenaarsfamilie uit Kortrijk. ed. de Potter, Filippe, 133–84. Kortrijk: Koninklijke Geschied- & Oudheidkundige Kring van Kortrijk, 2012.Google Scholar
Bedini, Silvio The Pope’s Elephant: An Elephant’s Journey from Deep in India to the Heart of Rome. Manchester: Carcanet, 1997.Google Scholar
Bellori, Giovan Pietro. Le vite de’ pittori, scultori e architetti moderni. Ed. Borea, Evelina. Turin: Einaudi, 1976.Google Scholar
Bernini, Domenico The Life of Gian Lorenzo Bernini by Domenico Bernini. Ed. and trans. Mormando, Franco. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2011.Google Scholar
Bernini: Sculpting in Clay. Ed. Dickerson, C. D.. Exh. cat. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012.Google Scholar
Bisanz-Prakken, Marian. Rembrandt and His Time: Masterworks from the Albertina , Vienna. Exh. cat. New York: Milwaukee Art Museum, 2005.Google Scholar
Blunt, Anthony The Paintings of Nicolas Poussin. London: Phaidon, 1966.Google Scholar
Blunt, Anthony Nicolas Poussin. 2 vols. New York: Bollingen Foundation, 1967.Google Scholar
Bottari, Giovanni Gaetano, and Ticozzi, Stefano. Raccolta di lettere sulla pittura, scultura e architettura scritte da’ più celebri personaggi dei secoli XV, XVI, e XVII. 8 vols. Milan: G. Silvestri, 1822–25.Google Scholar
Bottifango, Giulio Cesare. Lettera dell’elefante al Signor Domenico Salvati suo nipote. Rome: Francesco Corbelletti, 1630.Google Scholar
Brighetti, Antonio Bologna e la peste del 1630. Bologna: Gaggi, 1968.Google Scholar
Browne, Thomas Pseudodoxia Epidemica. London: E. Dod, 1646.10.1093/oseo/instance.00033939CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of James I: 1623–1625. Ed. Green, Mary Anne Everett. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, 1859.Google Scholar
Calendar of State Papers Relating to English Affairs in the Archives of Venice. XVIII: 1623–1625. Ed. Hinds, Allen. London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1912: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/venice/vol18/pp70-80.Google Scholar
Cámara, Alicia. “Madrid en el espejo de la corte.” In Madrid, ciencia y corte. ed. Lafuente, Antonio and Moscoso, Javier, 63–74. Madrid: Consejería de Educación y Cultura, 1999.Google Scholar
Carter, Charles “Gondomar: Ambassador to James I.” Historical Journal 7 (1964): 189–208.10.1017/S0018246X00025425CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chamberlain, John The Letters of John Chamberlain. Ed. McClure, Norman. 2 vols. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1939.Google Scholar
Croce, Benedetto I teatri di Napoli: Secolo XV–XVIII. Naples: L. Pierro, 1891.Google Scholar
Cropper, Elizabeth, and Dempsey, Charles. Nicolas Poussin: Friendship and the Love of Painting. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996.Google Scholar
Delisle, Léopold. “L’éléphant de Henri IV.” Bibliothèque de l’École des chartes 54 (1893): 358–62.Google Scholar
Delort, André. Mémoires de ce qui s’est passé de plus remarquable dans Montpellier depuis 1622 jusqu’en 1691. Montpellier: C. Coulet, 1876.Google Scholar
Di, Penta Miriam. “Novità sul soggiorno di Andrea de Leone a Roma (1630). Riflessioni sul rapporto con Nicolas Poussin, Pietro Testa, Andrea Sacchi e l’ambiente di Casa dal Pozzo.” In Pittori del dissenso: Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, Andrea de Leone, Pier Francesco Mola, Pietro Testa, Salvator Rosa. ed. Albl, Stefan, Sganzerla, Anita Viola, and Weston, Giulia Martina, 59–79. Rome: Artemide, 2014.Google Scholar
Dizionario biografico degli italiani. Rome, 1960–present: http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/.Google Scholar
D’Onofrio, Cesare. Gli obelischi di Roma. 3rd ed. Rome: Romana Società Editrice, 1992.Google Scholar
Echt tierisch! Die Menagerie des Fürsten. Ed. Haag, Sabine. Exh. cat. Vienna: KHM-Museumsverband, 2015.Google Scholar
Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence from Ancient Times to the Present. Ed. Kohn, George. 3rd ed. New York: Facts on File, 2008.Google Scholar
Fagiolo dell’Arco, Maurizio. Jean Lemaire pittore “antiquario.” Rome: U. Bozzi, 1996.Google Scholar
Faust, Ingrid Zoologische Einblattdrucke und Flugschriften. 4: Wale, Sirenen, Elefanten. Stuttgart: Hiersemann, 2002.Google Scholar
Federici, Fabrizio “Alla ricerca dell’esattezza. Peiresc, Francesco Gualdi e l’antico.” In Rome-Paris 1640: Transferts culturels et renaissance d’un centre artistique. ed. Bayard, Marc, 229–73. Paris: Somogy, 2010.Google Scholar
Ferrand, David Discours apologétique en faveur de l’instinct & naturel admirable de l’éléphant. Rouen, 1627. Reprint (with introduction by Héron, A.), Rouen: L. Gy, 1903.Google Scholar
Franzoni, Claudio, and Tempesta, Alessandra. “Il museo di Francesco Gualdi nella Roma del Seicento tra raccolta privata ed esibizione pubblica.” Bollettino d’arte 77 (1992): 1–42.Google Scholar
Fusconi, Giulia Pietro Testa e la nemica fortuna: Un artista filosofo tra Lucca e Roma. Rome: Palombi, 2014.Google Scholar
Gandilhon, René. “L’éléphant de Claude de Lorraine (1628).” Bibliothèque de l’Ecole des chartes 114 (1956): 208–11.10.3406/bec.1956.449543CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gassendi, Pierre The Mirrour of True Nobility & Gentility, being the Life of the Renowned Nicolaus Claudius Fabricius Lord of Peiresk. Trans. Rand, William. London: H. Moseley, 1657.Google Scholar
Gigli, Giacinto Diario di Roma. Ed. Barberito, Manlio. 2 vols. Rome: C. Colombo, 1994.Google Scholar
Griffin, Eric English Renaissance Drama and the Specter of Spain: Ethnopoetics and Empire. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009.10.9783/9780812202106CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grossi, Carlo Degli uomini illustri di Urbino comentario. Urbino: G. Rondini, 1856.Google Scholar
Gschwend, Annemarie Jordan. The Story of Süleyman: Celebrity Elephants and Other Exotica in Renaissance Portugal. Zurich: Pachyderm, 2010.Google Scholar
Gumpelzhaimer, Christian Gottlieb. Regensburg’s Geschichte, Sagen und Merwürdigkeite … Dritte Abtheilung vom Jahre 1618 bis 1790. Regensburg: F. Pustet, 1838.Google Scholar
Haskell, Francis, and Rinehart, Sheila. “The Dal Pozzo Collection, Some New Evidence. Part I.” Burlington Magazine 102 (1960): 318–27.Google Scholar
Heikamp, Detlef, and Abbing, Michiel Roscam. “Epitaffio per un elefante morto nella Loggia dei Lanzi.” In Diafane passioni: Avori barocchi dalle corti europee. ed. Schmidt, Eike and Sframeli, Maria, 40–71. Livorno: Sillabe, 2013.Google Scholar
Herklotz, Ingo Cassiano Dal Pozzo und die Archäologie des 17. Jahrhunderts. Munich: Hirmer, 1999.Google Scholar
Hollstein’s Dutch and Flemish Etchings , Engravings and Woodcuts , c. 1450–1700. 41 : Johannes Visscher to Robert Van Voerst. Ed. Schuckman, Christiaan and De Hoop Scheffer, Dieuwke. Roosendaal: Koninklijke Van Poll, 1992.Google Scholar
Horn, Caspar Elephas, das ist: historischer und philosophischer Discurs von dem grossen Wunder-Thier dem Elephanten, dessen wunderbahrer Natur und Eygenschafften, der gleichen unlängsten einer in Teutsch-Land umbgeführet und von vielen Tausend Menschen gesehan worden. Nuremberg: S. Dalbmayern, 1629.Google Scholar
Issues of the Exchequer ; Being Payments made out of His Majesty’s Revenue during the Reign of King James I. Ed. Devon, Frederick. London: J. Rodwell, 1836.Google Scholar
“Journal agenais des Malebaysse.” Revue de l’Agenais. 20 (1893): 68–83, 238–49, 441–53, 524–44.Google Scholar
Lach, Donald “Asian Elephants in Renaissance Europe.” Journal of Asian History 1 (1967): 133–76.Google Scholar
Lach, Donald Asia in the Making of Europe, Volume II: A Century of Wonder. Book 1: The Visual Arts. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970.10.7208/chicago/9780226467108.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
List and Analysis of State Papers , Foreign Series: Elizabeth I. IV: May 1592–June 1593. Ed. Wernham, Richard. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1964.Google Scholar
Loisel, Gustave Histoire des ménageries de l’antiquité à nos jours. 3 vols. Paris: O. Doin et Fils and H. Laurens, 1912.Google Scholar
Mahon, Denis Nicolas Poussin: I primi anni romani. Exh. cat. Milan: Electa, 1998.Google Scholar
Mahon, Denis Nicolas Poussin: Works from His First Years in Rome. Exh. cat. Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1999.Google Scholar
Malvezzi, Virgilio Historia de los primeros años del reinado de Felipe IV. Ed. Shaw, D. L.. London: Tamesis, 1968.Google Scholar
Masini, Antonio di Paolo. Bologna perlustrata. 3rd ed. Bologna: Erede di Vittorio Benacci, 1666.Google Scholar
Mellot, Jean-Dominique. L’édition rouennaise et ses marchés (vers 1600–vers 1730): Dynamisme provincial et centralisme parisien. Paris: École des chartes, 1998.Google Scholar
Meniconi, Cesare Memorie di Perugia di Cesare Meniconi. Ed. Paciullo, Anna Mori. Perugia: Guerra, 1995.Google Scholar
Mérot, Alain. Nicolas Poussin. New York: Abbeville, 1990.Google Scholar
Michel, Olivier “La fortune matérielle de Poussin.” In Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) (1996), 1:27–44.Google Scholar
Miller, Peter Peiresc’s Europe: Learning and Virtue in the Seventeenth Century. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Miller, Peter Peiresc’s Mediterranean World. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015.10.4159/9780674425750CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moretti, Massimo “Le raccolte Ubaldini nella storia della biblioteca comunale di Urbania: Nascita e rinascita di una collezione.” In Il collezionismo locale: Adesioni e rifiuti. Atti del Convengo Ferrara, 9–11 novembre 2006. ed. Varese, Ranieri and Veratelli, Federica, 119–86. Florence: Le lettere, 2009.Google Scholar
Murdoch, Graeme “‘They are laughing at us’: Hungarian Travellers and Early Modern European Identity.” In Under Eastern Eyes: A Comparative Introduction to East European Travel Writing on Europe. ed. Bracewell, Wendy and Drace-Francis, Alex, 121–46. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2008.Google Scholar
The New Hollstein : Dutch and Flemish Engravings and Woodcuts , 1450–1700. 4 : Gerard van Groeningen. Ed. Schuckman, Christiaan and Luijten, Ger. 2 vols. Rotterdam: Sound and Vision Interactive, 1997.Google Scholar
The New Hollstein : German Engravings , Etchings and Woodcuts , 1400–1700. 9 : Wenceslaus Hollar. Ed. Bartrum, Giulia and Turner, Simon. 9 vols. Ouderkerk aan den IJssel: Sound and Vision Publishers, 2009–12.Google Scholar
Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) : Actes du colloque organisé au Musée du Louvre. Ed. Mérot, Alain. 2 vols. Paris: Documentation française, 1996.Google Scholar
Nossek, Johann Christian. Geographisch-statistisch-historisches Zeitungs-Taschen-Lexicon des gesammten Erdballs über die Länder, Provinzen, Städte … von den ältesten Zeiten bis Mitte 1850. 5 vols. Graz: Kienreich, 1850–52.Google Scholar
Oberhuber, Konrad Poussin: The Early Years in Rome. Exh. cat. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Oettermann, Stephan Die Schaulust am Elefanten: Eine Elephantographia Curiosa. Frankfurt: Syndikat, 1982.Google Scholar
Osborne, Toby Dynasty and Diplomacy in the Court of Savoy: Political Culture and the Thirty Years’ War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.Google Scholar
The Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo. Volume 4 of Quaderni Puteani. Exh. cat. Milan: Olivetti, 1993.Google Scholar
Passeri, Giovanni Battista. Die Künstlerbiographien von Giovanni Battista Passeri. Ed. Hess, Jacob. Leipzig: H. Keller, 1934. Reprint, Worms: Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1995.Google Scholar
Peiresc, Nicolas-Claude Fabri de. Lettres de Peiresc. Ed. de Larroque, Philippe Tamizey. 7 vols. Paris, 1888–98.Google Scholar
Poussin and Nature : Arcadian Visions. Ed. Rosenberg, Pierre and Christiansen, Keith. Exh. cat. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008.Google Scholar
The Progresses , Processions, and Magnificent Festivities of King James the First, His Royal Consort, Family, and Court. Ed. Nichols, John. 4 vols. London: Nichols, 1828.Google Scholar
Redworth, Glyn The Prince and the Infanta: The Cultural Politics of the Spanish Match. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Roeck, Bernd Als wollt die Welt schier brechen: Eine Stadt im Zeitalter des Dreißigjährigen Krieges. Munich: Beck, 1991.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, Pierre “Un Poussin inédit: La Sainte Famille à l’éléphant.” In Curiosité: Etudes d’histoire de l’art en l’honneur d’Antoine Schnapper. ed. Bonfait, Olivier, 35–45. Paris: Flammarion, 1998.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, Pierre, and Prat, Louis-Antoine. Nicolas Poussin 1594–1665: Catalogue raisonné des dessins. 2 vols. Geneva: G. Naef, 1994.Google Scholar
Rossi, Giovanni Vittorio. Pinacotheca Imaginum Illustrium Doctrinae vel Ingenii Laude Vivorum qui Auctore Supersite, Diem Suum Obierunt. Cologne, 1645.Google Scholar
Salomon, Brownell “Don Diego: Infamous Spaniard of English Renaissance Drama.” Journal of Popular Culture 1 (1968): 433–38.Google Scholar
Sánchez Cano, Davide. “Entertainments in Madrid for the Prince of Wales: Political Functions of Festivals.” In The Spanish Match: Prince Charles’s Journey to Madrid, 1623. ed. Samson, Alexander, 51–74. Farnham: Ashgate, 2006.Google Scholar
Schiaffino, Agostino Memorie di Genova (1624–1647). Ed. Cabello, Carlo: http://www.quaderni.net/WebCAB/1631.htm.Google Scholar
Schorer, Christoph Memminger Chronik. Ulm: B. Kühnen, 1640. Reprint, Kempten: Verlag für Heimatspflege, 1964.Google Scholar
Schütze, Sebastian. “Exemplum Romanitatis: Poussin e la pittura napoletana del Seicento.” In Poussin et Rome: Actes du colloque à l’Académie de France à Rome et à la Bibliotheca Hertziana. ed. Bonfait, Olivier, 181–200. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1996.Google Scholar
I segreti di un collezionista : Le straordinarie raccolte di Cassiano dal Pozzo 1588–1657. Ed. Solinas, Francesco. Exh cat. Rome: De Luca, 2000.Google Scholar
Semenza, Giulia “La quadreria roveresca da Casteldurante a Firenze: L’ultima dimora della collezione di Francesco Maria II.” In Biganti, Tiziana, L’eredità dei della Rovere: Inventari dei beni in Castedurante (1631). 68–137. Urbino: Accademia Raffaello, 2005.Google Scholar
Seneviratne, Nadeera “Globalising Hansken: An Elephant in the Netherlands.” In Abhinandanamālā: Nandana Chutiwongs Felicitation Volume. ed. Prematilleke, Leelananda, 259–73. Bangkok: SPAFA Regional Centre of Archaeology and Fine Arts, 2010.Google Scholar
Skeat, Walter A Glossary of Tudor and Stuart Words Especially from the Dramatists. Ed. Mayhew, A. L.. Oxford: Clarendon, 1914.Google Scholar
Solinas, Francesco “Poussin et Cassiano dal Pozzo: Notes et documents sur une collaboration amicable.” In Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) (1996), 1:287–336.Google Scholar
Sparti, Donatella “La maison de Nicolas Poussin via del Babuino, à Rome.” In Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) (1996), 1:47–77.Google Scholar
Spear, Richard “Rome: Setting the Stage.” In Painting for Profit: The Economic Lives of Seventeenth-Century Italian Painters. ed. Spear, Richard and Sohm, Philip, 33–113. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Standring, Timothy “Some Pictures by Poussin in the Dal Pozzo Collection: Three New Inventories.” Burlington Magazine 130 (1988): 608–26.Google Scholar
Standring, Timothy “Come fare l’inventario dei beni dal Pozzo: Una disputa legale sul Fidecommesso.” In I segreti di un collezionista (2000), 200–24.Google Scholar
Storie barocche : Da Guercino a Serra e Savolini nella Romagna del Seicento. Ed. Cellini, Marina. Exh. cat. Bologna: Abacus, 2004.Google Scholar
Thuillier, Jacques “Propositions pour I. Charles Errard, peintre.” Revue de l’art 40–41 (1978): 151–72.Google Scholar
Thuillier, Jacques Nicolas Poussin. Paris: Flammarion, 1994.Google Scholar
A True Discourse of all the Royal Passages , Tryumphs and Ceremonies, obserued at the Contract and Marriage of the High and Mighty Charles, King of Great Britaine, and the most excellentest of Ladies, the Lady Henrietta Maria of Burbon, sister to the most Christian King of France. London: Hanna Barret, 1625.Google Scholar
Turner, Nicholas “L’autoportrait dessiné de Poussin au British Museum.” In Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) (1996), 1:81–97.Google Scholar
Unglaub, Jonathan “Poussin’s Reflection.” Art Bulletin 86 (2004): 505–28.Google Scholar
Vecchiazzani, Matteo Historia di Forlimpopoli. Rimini: Simbeni, 1647.Google Scholar
Véran, Jacques-Didier. “Annales de la ville d’Arles.” Le Musée: Revue arlésienne historique et littéraire 31 (1875–76): 248.Google Scholar
Waddy, Patricia Seventeenth-Century Roman Palaces: Use and the Art of the Plan. New York: Architectural History Foundation, 1990.Google Scholar
Wilberding, Erick “Poussin’s Illness of 1629.” Burlington Magazine 142 (2000): 561.Google Scholar
Winner, Matthias “Raffael malt einen Elefanten.” Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 11 (1964): 71–109.Google Scholar
Wood, Jeremy Rubens: Copies and Adaptations from Renaissance and Later Masters. Italian Artists II: Titian and North Italian Art. 2 vols. Turnhout: Brepols, 2010.Google Scholar
Wright, Christopher Poussin. Paintings: A Catalogue Raisonné. Rev. ed. London: Chaucer, 2007.Google Scholar