Jan van der Straet, called Stradanus

Laid down. Overall in good condition. Light scattered foxing throughout sheet, very faint and barely visible. Sheet is slightly wrinkled. Medium remains strong and overall image vibrant. Sold framed.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This lively and exuberant hunting scene and its companion in lot 13 below were both executed in connection with Philips Galle's Venationes ferarum avium piscium...., a major series of some 104 prints, after designs by Stradanus, which illustrate every possible method of hunting and fishing.  The complete series was published in Antwerp in several editions between about 1596 and 1634.¹  These two scenes do not, however, appear in the final publication and Vannucci suggests that the designs were probably rejected by the publisher and thus never translated into prints (explaining why they, unlike most of Stradanus's drawings of hunting scenes, are not indented for transfer).  It was not unusual in the case of a large, ambitious publishing project such as this for a designer to submit for consideration rather more designs than would ultimately be engraved and used.  

Interestingly, two drawings in the remarkable collection of small, spontaneous sketches by Stradanus in the Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York, clearly show these same two compositions, though in a much less developed form.²  The Cooper Hewitt houses a number of similar sketches of hunting scenes by Stradanus, some of which served as the basis for prints in the final publication, while others did not.  (See also lot 3.)

Born in Bruges, Stradanus trained in Antwerp before travelling to France and Italy sometime around 1545.  Apart from a tour of the Low Countries in 1576-78, he spent the majority of his life in Italy, settling in Florence, where he worked extensively for the Medici court.

1. A. Baroni Vannucci, Jan Van Der Straet detto Giovanni Stradano flandrus pictor et inventor, Milan 1997, p. 371, no. 693
2. Idem., p. 320, nos. 607 and 608, reproduced p. 321 (Cooper Hewitt Inv. nos. 1901-39-167 and 1901-39-166, respectively)