Plate 11: A Lioness with Two Lions in the Background
c.1575/1590s
Medium
watercolor and gold paint on parchment
Dimensions
page size (approximate): 14.3 x 18.4 cm (5 5/8 x 7 1/4 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Lessing J. Rosenwald
Accession Number
1987.20.6.12
Art Historical Context
Step into the wild majesty of *Plate 11: A Lioness with Two Lions in the Background*, a captivating watercolor and gold paint on parchment by artist Joris Hoefagel, created around 1575–1590s. Measuring just 14.3 x 18.4 cm, this intimate drawing showcases a fierce lioness in the foreground, flanked by two distant lions against a subtle landscape, rendered with Hoefnagel's signature hyper-detailed. Now housed in the National Gallery of Art as a gift from Mrs. Lessing J. Rosenwald, it exemplifies the Northern Renaissance fascination with nature's wonders. Hoefnagel, a pioneering natural history ...
About the Artist
Joris Hoefnagel · 1542–1600
Joris Hoefnagel, also known as Georg Hoefnagel, was born in 1542 in Antwerp to Jacob Hoefnagel, a prosperous diamond and luxury goods dealer, and Elisabeth Vezelaer, daughter of the Antwerp mint master. Intended for the family trade, he received a humanistic education, mastering languages, poetry, and music, but pursued art as a self-taught draftsman and miniaturist, receiving his first lessons fr...