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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileThe drawing depicts an Indian elephant in profile, accompanied by two keepers: one mounted on its back holding a mahout's hook and another standing beside its trunk. Fine cross-hatched lines define the texture of the animal's hide, while several handwritten notations and scale marks suggest the artist's interest in recording accurate proportions.
Hanno was a centerpiece of the Vatican's 'court of wonders,' symbolizing the expanding horizons of the Renaissance world and the Pope's temporal power. In the natural philosophy of the era, elephants were regarded as the most intelligent of beasts, often cited in bestiaries and Neoplatonic thought as symbols of memory, temperance, and religious piety.
Contrafait ausser Bolnia p 2 pallm = 2
Translation
Portrait from Bologna [or possibly 'from the beast'] [Measurements in palms]
Pliny the Elder
His 'Natural History' was the primary source for Renaissance understanding of elephants as moral and intellectual creatures.
Francesco Colonna
The 'Hypnerotomachia Poliphili' features a famous elephant-obelisk monument, cementing the elephant as an emblem of strength and wisdom in esoteric literature.
Object
Oil on panel
scientific
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Kupferstichkabinett Berlin
3101 × 3000 px
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 2, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.