Size: 174.5 x 212 cm
Signed and dated l.d.: 'ROELANT. SAVERY.FE .162(?)'
purchase 1956
Inv. no. M.Ob.579 MNW
Adoption period: 1 year
Biography
In constructing the vision of all creation in "Noah's Ark," Roelant Savery drew on his experiences and observations from his stay at the court of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague. Although the work was painted after the painter's return to Utrecht, it is filled with images of animals from the imperial menagerie. In addition to native cows, horses or a fox, there are elephants, ostriches and lions, and even an extremely rare, exotic dodo bird native to Mauritius (hidden behind the figure of a horned ox) and a kazoo inhabiting New Guinea and northeastern Australia. The artist had the opportunity to sketch exotic specimens from nature and study plants in botanical atlases collected in the monarch's library.
The fashion of the time for collecting all the creations of nature provided additional inspiration for artists who wanted to reflect the beauty of nature in all its diversity. A sizable collection of natures also filled Rudolf II's kunstkamer, or chamber of curiosities. Biblical themes such as "Noah's Ark" and "Adam and Eve in Paradise" gave artists a pretext to show the richness of the earth's flora and fauna.
Savery's animalistic compositions marked the beginning of the development of an independent painting genre that emerged in the second half of the 17th century in Dutch and Flemish art. Scenes with animals were already depicted without biblical references, and were eager to show hunting, for example.
