Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10130
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‘Figure du combat du Rhinoceros contre l’Elephant’
Date
1582
After
Andre Thevet (1516 - 1590, French)
Object type
Library reference
Tracts/X306/2
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 162mm
width (print): 230mm
width (print): 230mm
Subject
Description
Fantastical scene of battle between a rhinoceros and an elephant in a wooded landscape. Three stages of the contest are shown in the foreground, middle and far distance. Elsewhere a human hunter armed with a bow is shown in a tree, hunting elephants.
This print originally appeared in Andre Thevet’s La cosmographie universalle (1575). Paré account states that: “Or le Rhinoceros...ennemy de l'Elephant, il aiguise sa corne contre un rocher, & se met en bataille contre luy valeureusement... & demeure vainqueur, & tue l'Elephant: duquel combat Salsuste du Bartas...faict mention par ces vers.” (But the Rhinoceros... enemy of the Elephant, sharpens his horn against a rock, and valiantly goes into battle against him...and... won, killing the Elephant: which fight Salsuste du Bartas mentions in verses).
Illustration from Discours d'Ambroise Pare ... a scavoir, de la mumie, de la licorne, des venins, et de la peste, avec une table des plus notables matieres contenues esdit discours (chez Gabriel Buon, Paris, 1582), f.25.
Ambroise Paré (c.1510-1590) was a French barber surgeon and anatomist who served several Kings of France.
This print originally appeared in Andre Thevet’s La cosmographie universalle (1575). Paré account states that: “Or le Rhinoceros...ennemy de l'Elephant, il aiguise sa corne contre un rocher, & se met en bataille contre luy valeureusement... & demeure vainqueur, & tue l'Elephant: duquel combat Salsuste du Bartas...faict mention par ces vers.” (But the Rhinoceros... enemy of the Elephant, sharpens his horn against a rock, and valiantly goes into battle against him...and... won, killing the Elephant: which fight Salsuste du Bartas mentions in verses).
Illustration from Discours d'Ambroise Pare ... a scavoir, de la mumie, de la licorne, des venins, et de la peste, avec une table des plus notables matieres contenues esdit discours (chez Gabriel Buon, Paris, 1582), f.25.
Ambroise Paré (c.1510-1590) was a French barber surgeon and anatomist who served several Kings of France.
Associated place