Frederick Hendrik Van Hove, The famous Porcupine, engraving, second half of the 17th century.
British Museum’s rare animal prints to go on display in SA, ABC News 11 June 2016
Mythical creatures will mingle with real beasts in a rare display of a collection of animal pictures dating back to the 15th century by some of history’s greatest artists.
The exhibition, called Curious Beasts: Animal prints from Durer to Goya, will showcase works from the British Museum in London at the South Australian Museum.
More than 80 prints on paper by the likes of Rembrandt, George Stubbs, Albrecht Durer and Francisco de Goya will be featured.
Museum director Brian Oldman said it would be the first time the collection would be on display in the southern hemisphere.
“Because of the delicacy of these prints – some of them date back to 1480 – it’s only allowed by the British Museum to have five exhibitions before it gets returned to the British Museum’s vaults, and it’s already had four exhibitions in the UK and the US,” he said.
“A lot of these prints were done as a way in which to inform people, in a mass production way in those days, what [these] animals actually looked like.
