Buffel before 1650

This is Antonio Tempesta’s "Buffel," an engraving rendered sometime between 1555 and 1630, now housed at the Rijksmuseum. The immediate impression is one of texture and form, achieved through meticulous use of line. Tempesta’s engraving captures the robust figure of the buffalo, its size accentuated by the diminutive landscape it stands upon. The animal is meticulously detailed through dense cross-hatching to convey its rough coat and muscular build. Here, Tempesta is not merely depicting an animal; he's presenting a structured view of nature that aligns with the period's fascination with cataloging and understanding the natural world. The cross-hatching, while descriptive, also serves a deeper function: it creates a visual field that destabilizes fixed form, suggesting that knowledge itself is constructed through layers of observation and interpretation. Note the imposing structure of the buffalo against the backdrop, a formal tension which reminds us that art offers interpretations of nature, inviting ongoing dialogue rather than fixed understanding.