La chasse aux porcs-épics

Authentic original engraving executed with burin after a 16th century drawing by Johannes Stradanus.
Proof on watermarked laid paper, work from the late 16th or very early 17th century.
Artists' signatures in the plate.
Latin caption in the lower part of the engraving.
Manuscript translation in old handwriting below the plate mark: "In winter, the porcupine is taken by dogs or in nets, or when it flees to hide in dark holes, hunters pursue them with rakes and hoes".
Watermark visible by transparency.
The margins of the engraving have been backed with small pieces of old laid paper glued to the edges on the reverse, otherwise fine condition for this very rare engraving.
Johannes Stradanus, known as Giovanni Stradano or Jan van der Straet, was a Flemish painter and engraver, born in Bruges in 1523 and died in Florence on February 11, 1605.
After beginning to learn painting with his father, and following the latter's death, he continued his training in the workshop of Maximiliaan Frank (from 1535 to 1537), then in that of Pieter Aertsen in Antwerp (from 1537 to 1540). In 1545, he was received as a master in the Antwerp painters' guild. He then began a journey across Europe: in France, then in Italy, where he first stayed in Venice, before settling in Florence. There he worked for Cosimo I de' Medici and collaborated with Giorgio Vasari for the decoration of the Studiolo of Francesco I de' Medici, and for that of the hall of Clement VII in the Palazzo Vecchio. In 1565, he was part of the teams of painters and sculptors charged, under the direction of Giorgio Vasari, with creating the gigantic decor planned for the entry into Florence of Joanna of Austria, on the occasion of her marriage to Francesco I de' Medici. Greatly influenced by the Mannerists, including Michelangelo, Johannes Stradanus contributed to the development of grand Italian history painting. He painted several altarpieces for Florentine churches. He also stayed in Rome from 1550 to 1553 and in Naples in 1576. After a stay in Antwerp in 1578, he devoted a large part of his activity to engraving.
Adrian Collaert, born in Antwerp in 1565 and died in 1618, was part of a great family of engravers. Trained in the workshop of his father-in-law Philippe Galle, he began with copperplate engraving before specializing in burin.