Tijger before 1650

Antonio Tempesta made this print of a tiger using etching in the late 16th or early 17th century, a time when Europeans were expanding their global reach. It depicts a tiger in an exotic, imagined landscape, complete with a ship at sea and figures on horseback. Tigers, native to Asia, would have been largely unknown to Europeans outside of textual descriptions and the occasional imported specimen in aristocratic menageries. Tempesta’s print speaks to the early modern appetite for knowledge and mastery of the natural world. Prints like these, circulating widely, played a key role in shaping popular understanding of far-off lands and their creatures. The tiger, of course, became a symbol of untamed power, and of the complex relationship between humans and the animal kingdom. To truly understand this image, we can delve into period travelogues, natural histories, and emblem books. It's through this historical lens that we can appreciate the complex layers of meaning embedded in what might seem like a straightforward depiction of a tiger.