Habsburg Emperor Rudolph II chose Prague as his seat at the close of the 16th century. Rudolph was known as a great collector and art lover and so his court attracted many personalities of the time. Painters, sculptors, goldsmiths, but also astrologists, astronomists and alchemists from all over Europe came here.
Rudolph´s passion for exotic animals is also known, as well as the fact that he had his own menagerie in Prague. Rudolph II’s court hosted a large number of outstanding artists, for instance, Hans von Aachen, Bartholomeus Spranger, or the author of this work, Roelandt Savery.
The Dutch master was distinguished by his ability to capture fauna and flora in a very realistic and detailed way. Even Emperor Rudolph II took notice and sent the painter on a two-year trip to the Tyrolean Alps to further improve his art of depicting animals and plants. Let’s have a look at Savery’s mastery of animal representation. This painting from 1618 on the theme of paradise depicts a number of animals, often in pairs, which could hardly live side by side under normal conditions. These are predators and their prey, but in paradise they all live in harmony. It is a very charming and realistic depiction of a pair of leopards, and next to them, dogs, a deer, a camel; above them a lion with a lioness; a bit further away a wild boar, a monkey, a horse, a cow, a pair of pelicans, pheasants, and a hen with a rooster. In paradise, the heaven is full of birds. We can observe an eagle, a crane and a stork here. But what attracts our attention the most is a pair of parrots. One is blue and the other is distinctly red. Of course, Roelandt Savery had many opportunities to study these exotic birds in Rudolph’s large aviaries. Besides animals we should also direct our attention to the plants. Roelandt Savery depicted tulips, irises, and meadow and forest flora with great credibility. The richness and colours of animals capture our attention to such an extent that we almost fail to notice a small figure in the background – Adam. He stands alone – it means at the moment before the creation of Eve. God gave him a task to give a name to each of the animals. That is why they parade in front of him in pairs.
