Nautical
Laan, Adolf van der
Engraver
Qui Siccis Oculis Monstra Natantia
Description
Left half of a large engraving on two folio sheets on the Greenland fishery in exacting detail. In the foreground is a flurry of activity from men in whaleboats harpooning a whale. The whale is depicted "sounding" or diving. Only its large tail fin is visible.
The title (Qui Siccis Oculis Monstra Natantia) is only the first half of the complete title (Qui Siccis Oculis Monstra Natantia Qui Vidit Mare Turgidum). It is from The Odes of Horace and translates to: "He who sees with his own dry eyes the monster swimming, sees a wave-tossed sea." A poem is inscribed in Dutch in three columns below the title. According to the translation taken from "Whaling Prints in the Francis B. Lothrop Collection" by Elizabeth Ingalls on p.14, the poem reads:
"Much bravery is shown by those, who in a sea full of water-ghosts / Face icebergs, storms, and rocky cliffs, / For catching whales on Greenland's shores / Only guided, even beyond North Cape, by Hecla's glow. / Samoyeds are afraid when they see the spouting whales / As the raging monsters are chased and killed / And sea harpoons paint the Ice-Sea red with blood. / But Iceland lives from walrus, oil and seal. / The brave take care of Holland's growing trade. / Be silent, Colchis, and see how Holland's heroes rove / Searching beastly monsters in the northern darkness / Until the Polar Circle's ice the whalemen holds."
The engraving is considered one of the grandest and most ambitious of whale fishery prints. It is a composite of the set of sixteen celebrated whaling prints also made by Meulen, Laan, and Schenk Iun around the same time. Both publications are notable for their exceptional historical comprehensiveness, historical accuracy, maritime detail, and artistry that provide rare pictorial documentation of the industry. For a conjoined, duplicate print see CC-D-0074.
