Hansken the Elephant c. 1650

This print depicts Hansken the Elephant, an Asian elephant famous in 17th-century Europe, demonstrating tricks. Here, the elephant is not merely an animal but a spectacle, a symbol of human mastery over the natural world. The flag she holds aloft, a potent symbol of power, is reminiscent of ancient Roman triumphal arches, where captured beasts were paraded as trophies of conquest. The elephant, revered in some cultures as a sacred animal and a symbol of wisdom, is reduced here to a performing curiosity, a spectacle of exoticism. This domestication of the wild echoes through history, from the menageries of emperors to modern-day zoos, reflecting our complex relationship with nature. Note that this kind of appropriation can be seen as an act of assertion, a display of dominance that both fascinates and disturbs us, touching deep-seated anxieties about control, and the boundaries between the human and animal realms.