Jachttrofee op paneel met eierlijst 1719

This is Hubert Quellinus’s depiction of a hunting trophy, made at an unknown date through etching. Quellinus was working in the Dutch Golden Age, a period of unprecedented wealth for the Netherlands, which was acquired through global trade and colonization. Quellinus here depicts instruments of the hunt, a horn, arrows, and an animal whose body is turned into a mere object. Hunting in 17th century Europe was a pursuit of the aristocracy. This work, therefore, may speak to the ways in which hunting and its trophies became symbols of power, wealth, and domination. It prompts us to reflect on how the pursuit of nature, under the guise of sport or necessity, frequently serves as a spectacle of power and privilege, and also to consider what stories are suppressed when an animal’s life is reduced to a trophy.