Hert aangevallen door luipaarden 1640 - 1703

Carl Ruthart created this etching of a deer attacked by leopards in the seventeenth century. The print comes from a series depicting animals fighting. The image speaks to seventeenth-century Europe’s fascination with the natural world, particularly the drama of predator-prey relationships. Ruthart was a German artist who spent much of his career in Italy, and his animal combat scenes draw on a longer tradition of such imagery in European art. Often such scenes carried a symbolic weight, representing human conflicts and power dynamics in the guise of wildlife. Ruthart himself converted to the Catholic church and spent his last years in an Italian monastery. Perhaps, we can see his animal prints as allegories of earthly struggle and salvation. Prints like this circulated widely, allowing Ruthart to reach a broad audience across Europe. By studying the artist's biography, the cultural context of seventeenth-century Europe, and the symbolic traditions of animal imagery, we can better understand the meanings this print may have held for its original viewers.