By Neena Bhandari
When British Museum’s Alison E. Wright opened a box of 16th century Dutch and Flemish prints, she was amazed to discover Dutch Baroque era engraver, Jan Saenredam’s magnificent engraving of a beached sperm whale from 1602. It was many years ago, but it had sparked in her the idea of curating the Curious Beasts: animal prints from Dürer to Goya exhibition.
“Saenredam’s whale is now at the heart of the Curious Beasts. The remarkably accurate representation of this mysterious giant is bordered by an equally remarkable frame that gives us broader insight into the ways people thought about whales: images of eclipses, earthquake and plague tie into the idea that the monstrous sea creature dying on land was a bad omen. The whale is surrounded by a crowd of sightseers, testifying to the intense curiosity about strange and rare creatures in this period”, says Wright, who has enjoyed showing it to new audiences.