Wild zwijn door honden aangevallen 1671 - 1691

Abraham Hondius created this etching of a wild boar being attacked by dogs sometime in the 17th century. During this period, depictions of animals in art were laden with symbolic meaning, often reflecting societal values and hierarchies. Hondius, working in the Dutch Golden Age, taps into the era’s fascination with hunting, a pursuit closely tied to class and power. Boar hunting, in particular, was seen as a test of courage and skill, reserved for the aristocracy. Yet, by focusing on the raw struggle between the boar and the dogs, Hondius offers a complex perspective. The boar, though wild, embodies a certain untamed nobility, while the dogs, agents of human control, represent the encroachment of civilization upon the natural world. What are we to make of this tension between wildness and domestication, freedom and control? Hondius invites us to reflect on our relationship with nature and the power dynamics that shape it.