Five hunting horns

Wenceslaus Hollar

1647 · Etching; only state · Drawings and Prints

This small etching is part of a series that shows typical seventeenth-century hunting paraphernalia. In one, traditional ox horns and coiled trumpets are both represented in pairs. Horns were used to send messages across vast hunting grounds when large parties of courtiers and their dogs became separated. Different melodies signaled the beginning and end of each stage of the hunt. By the eighteenth century, new horns with larger harmonic ranges were developed. However, ox horns were still used, as they had become synonymous with the pastime.

Artist

Wenceslaus Hollar

Date

1647

Medium

Etching; only state

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1951