In this article I analyze the numerous depictions of animals on two large world maps, the anonymous Hereford mappamundi, made c. 1300, and a world map by the Dutch cartographer Jodocus Hondius, made in 1611, and particularly the religious import of their presence. It is well established that some of the animals on the Hereford map come from bestiaries, while others do not, and I will examine what the “importation” of these animals can tell us about their intended meaning, particularly in relation to the sources from which they come. Dutch cartography was overwhelmingly secular, and many animals that appear on Dutch maps either indicate that an area is rural or signal the presence of an exotic creature. A large world map by Jodocus Hondius has an unusually large amount of religious imagery, and it also has an extensive gallery of 60 animals in its borders. I will examine how these animals fit with the map’s unusual religious program, and their relationship with the “emblematic” tradition of representing animals as moral models, which would begin declining later in the seventeenth century. - [Abstract]

Language: English

Locators: ISSN: 2284-0869