Close-ups
Framed and on the wall
Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the print could look; the description says what is included.
The White Fox of Canada, Elegant Arctic Wildlife Engraving Under Moonlight 1801
€209 ($235, £175, €209)
Period original, not a reproduction.
Shipped from the Netherlands, flat, insured and tracked, worldwide. Returns accepted within 14 days.
- Date
- 1801
- Size
- 10.2 × 8.3 in (26 × 21 cm)
- Condition
- Good. Condition report: Very good for age. Light overall toning and minor handling signs. Please study the scan carefully for any small edge wear or faint age marks.
- Period
- Early 19th century
- Artist or book
- Buffon
- Section
- Mammals
- Reference
- f_48153062
The Arctic fox, "Le Renard Blanc du Canada," a hand-colored copper engraving signed "Hulk Sculp." and numbered "Tom. VII." The old description identifies the engraver as Abraham Jacobsz Hulk and ties the plate to the natural history of the Comte de Buffon, c.1801.
The animal stands in profile on a mossy rock ledge, with long, shaggy white fur drawn hair by hair. The scene is a night landscape. A crescent moon shows between heavy clouds at the upper left, and a conifer grows on the rocks at the right. A small hut with a smoking chimney stands in the middle distance at the left, and a pool of water with a fallen log lies in the foreground. The coloring is delicate, in grays and blues for the sky and greens and ochres for the ground.
The caption's "Canada" reflects the way 18th-century naturalists located northern species. Buffon's multi-volume Histoire naturelle was the standard reference on animals for readers across Europe, and its plates were reissued in many editions.
