Noctule Bat (Nyctalus noctula) and Brown Long-eared Bat (Plecotus auratus), Anselmus Boëtius de Boodt, 1596 - 1610
brush, h 233mm × w 190mm More details
When the Bruges mayor Joseph van Huerne rebound the albums from the Historia Naturalis in the early 18th century, he had the drawings mounted on folios with ruled borders, with the name of each creature written in the Dutch, Latin and French forms of the time. Here, two different types of bat are represented, for which the artist probably copied two dead specimens (with their wings pinned open).
