Spotted Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes), Anselmus Boëtius de Boodt, 1596 - 1610
brush, h 184mm × w 289mm More details
De Boodt could study many living animals from distant places in Rudolf II’s menagerie (zoo). He could have seen mounted specimens in Rudolf’s Kunstkammer. Yet some animals were ‘borrowed’ from illustrations by other artists. Could De Boodt have been looking at a live or stuffed specimen? Or did he copy it? In any case, the dark brown plumage and the beautiful ‘white drops’ are convincingly rendered.
