Hyena before 1650

This print of a hyena was made by Antonio Tempesta, some time between 1570 and 1630. Tempesta was an Italian artist working at a time when Europeans were exploring and colonizing new lands, and with them new species of animals. Natural history was becoming increasingly important and so were printed images that could be circulated among collectors and scientists. But look closely, and you’ll see this isn’t quite a realistic depiction. The animal’s posture is awkward and unnatural, and the spots look almost decorative. This is because Tempesta likely never saw a hyena in real life. Instead, he was probably working from written descriptions, or perhaps other artists' depictions, gradually building up a mental picture from second-hand sources. The result is an image that tells us as much about European ideas about the natural world, as it does about hyenas themselves. As historians, we can dig into these sources, comparing Tempesta’s image with other texts and pictures from the period, to understand how knowledge was gathered and circulated in the early modern period.