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Sperm Whale Stranded on the Beach between Zandvoort and Wijk aan Zee, 20 February 1762
Cornelis van Noorde (Dutch, 1731–1795)
Dutch
1762
Medium/Technique
Etching
Dimensions
Image: 20 x 32.3 cm (7 7/8 x 12 11/16 in.)
Platemark: 21.2 x 33.7 cm (8 3/8 x 13 1/4 in.)
Sheet: 30.6 x 42.7 cm (12 1/16 x 16 13/16 in.)
Platemark: 21.2 x 33.7 cm (8 3/8 x 13 1/4 in.)
Sheet: 30.6 x 42.7 cm (12 1/16 x 16 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase with funds donated by Joseph P. Joyce and Curator's Discretionary Fund for Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
Accession Number2001.413
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsPrints
Catalogue Raisonné
Thieme-Becker, vol. 25, p. 510; Lothrop/Ingalls 377
DescriptionBeached whales were the object of much fascination during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Such strandings were, after all, the only occasions when most people who were not involved in the whaling industry could see the giant mammals in the flesh. Many strandings attracted artists, who would make prints that were issued almost like news sheets to commemorate the events. This same whale was memorialized in another print in the MFA's collection, by Henricus Spilman (MFA accession number 2016.373). The small vignette at the bottom shows the whale from behind.
Signed
In plate, lower right: C. V. Noorde
InscriptionsIn plate, lower left: dese CAGELOT VIS / lang 64 Voet, is Gestrand / tussen Zantvoord en Wyk- / op Zee den 20 Feb=1762.
In plate, lower right: op't Strand in OpenbaarVyling / Verkogt den 5 Maart voor 900 / Guldens.
[This whale, 64 feet long, stranded between Zantvoort and Wijk aan Zee on 20 February 1762, was sold at public auction on the beach on 5 March for 900 guilders]
In plate, lower center, below inset: de Vis van agteren
[The fish from behind.]
In plate, lower right: naar't Leven Getekend den 21 Feb. en vervolgens / in't Koper gebragt door C. V. Noorde
[Drawn from life on 21 February and then etched in copper by C. V. Noorde]
Recto, lower center, in brown ink: .1762
Recto, lower right, in graphite: 295
In plate, lower right: op't Strand in OpenbaarVyling / Verkogt den 5 Maart voor 900 / Guldens.
[This whale, 64 feet long, stranded between Zantvoort and Wijk aan Zee on 20 February 1762, was sold at public auction on the beach on 5 March for 900 guilders]
In plate, lower center, below inset: de Vis van agteren
[The fish from behind.]
In plate, lower right: naar't Leven Getekend den 21 Feb. en vervolgens / in't Koper gebragt door C. V. Noorde
[Drawn from life on 21 February and then etched in copper by C. V. Noorde]
Recto, lower center, in brown ink: .1762
Recto, lower right, in graphite: 295
Provenance2001, sold by E. H. Ariëns Kappers (dealer), Amsterdam, to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 27, 2001)