File:Drawing (BM 1997,0712.56 1).jpg

Height: 168 millimetres

Width: 236 millimetres

Exhibition label text (revised 2003): 'Hoefnagel is best remembered today as a miniaturist. He specialised in exquisitely painted illuminations of insects, birds and animals, often in allegorical contexts, with Latin mottoes or epigrams executed in elaborate calligraphy. In this capacity he worked from 1577-1591 for the dukes of Bavaria in Munich and later for the Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, where this drawing was made. The figure of the child with a skull and hour-glass within an ornamental frame has here been juxtaposed with animals and insects to create a 'Vanitas' allegory.'

Parts of the dense black bodycolour and the inscription on the upper scrolls, and the gold on the upper edge, have been re-touched. For a similar drawing by Hoefnagel of an allegory of Duke Albrecht V, see 'Wittelsbach und Bayern' exh.cat., Munich, 1980, vol.II/2, pp.46ff, no.65*. A further sheet (Venus disarming Cupid within an oval, surrounded by animals and insects representing the four elements) rather more damaged and covered in a thin layer of oil/varnish, was with Paul Prouté in Jan. 2008 and was acquired by the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen. Thea Vignau-Wilberg noted (January, 2010) that the composition within the oval with the figure of Cupid, which is drawn in a very different style to the elaborate surround, is most likely painted by Joris's son, Jacob, who was a much more competent figure draughtsman than his father. The two artists collaborated on other occasions (see for example, the miniature of Diana and Actaeon within a decorative border with plants, insects and small animals, dated 1597, in the Louvre, inv.no P.373). In the 2017 catalogue, Vignau-Wilberg attributes this miniature to both Joris and Jacob and suggests it was intended to recommend Jacob for a position at court. She considered the signature to be re-touched, as it does not match any other signed work (Joris always signed a Latinized form of his name, 'Georgius Hoefnagelius') and might have been added when the original signature was no longer legible (p. 186-7).