Plate 1: Pedro González (Petrus Gonsalvus) and His Wife, Catherine c. 1575 - 1580

Joris Hoefnagel created this watercolour and gouache on vellum artwork, “Plate 1: Pedro González and His Wife, Catherine,” circa 1575-1580. Enclosed within an oval composition, the subjects’ contrasting textures and forms immediately capture our attention. To the left, the hairy Petrus Gonsalvus is depicted with striking realism. Notice how the artist meticulously renders his hirsutism, contrasting it with the crisp, ruffled collar and the smooth fabric of his blue doublet. Beside him, Catherine is portrayed with a subdued palette, her skin porcelain-like, and her attire sharply delineated in black and grey. Hoefnagel’s work operates within a complex semiotic system. Petrus’s condition, hypertrichosis, was seen as a marvel, a disruption of natural order. The Latin inscriptions above and below the image frame humanity as both a wonder and a being born of woman, filled with miseries. The artist engages with early scientific curiosity, while simultaneously acknowledging cultural anxieties about the body and its perceived deviations. The formal precision and the controlled composition serve to present a subject of scientific interest within a framework that invites contemplation on human nature and the boundaries of normalcy.