Navita Erythraeum pavidus qui navigat aequor

Johannes Stradanus, also known as Jan van der Straet, was a Flemish artist active for much of his career in Florence. His designs were widely circulated through Antwerp print publishing, especially through the Galle family. The subject in this engraving originated in Stradanus’s Venationes Ferarum, Avium, Piscium. Pugnae Bestiariorum, first published by Philip Galle in Antwerp in 1578. The series treated hunting and animal subjects broadly, including encounters with marine creatures. The present impression belongs to the final 1817 issue, printed in London from the original copperplate. In this later issue the plate is numbered 84 at lower left; the first-state impression in the collection is numbered 104 (434).

The scene depicts a Portuguese carrack navigating the Indian Ocean and using the sound of bells to ward off sea monsters. Bells hang from the prow and stern of the ship, while whales and other marine creatures crowd the surrounding water. The image treats the sea as a place of danger and defence, extending the hunting theme of the series into the maritime world.

The Latin verses below the image read: Navita Erythraeum pavidus qui navigat aequor / In prorae et puppis summo resonantia pendet / Tintinnabula: eo sonitu praegrandia Cete, / Balenas, et monstra marina a navibus arcet. This may be translated: “The fearful sailor who navigates the Erythraean, or Indian, Ocean hangs ringing bells high on the prow and stern; by that sound he keeps huge whales and sea monsters away from the ships.”

Within the collection, this later 1817 impression is directly connected with the 1578 first-state impression of the same subject (434). It also relates to Stradanus’s Nova Reperta (209) and Americae Retectio (211), where invention, navigation, discovery, and printmaking are similarly presented as agents of early modern change.