JAN VAN DER STRAET (after) Group of 6 engravings of hunting scenes.
Each circa 1570. Each approximately 215x295 mm; 8 1/2x11 3/4 inches, small margins. Very good impressions with strong contrasts.
Between 1566 and 1577 van der Straet executed preparatory drawings for a series of hunting scenes for tapestries to decorate the Medici villa at Poggio a Caiano near Florence. The popularity of these led Flemish publishers to commission hunting scenes by Stradanus for engravings. The first set of 6 engravings, each with decorative borders, was published by Hieronymus Cock in 1570. In 1574 and 1576 Volxcken Diericx, Cock's widow, published two series of prints based on the same designs but without their ornamental borders. Subsequent sets, with additional hunting subjects, were issued by the publisher Philip Galle in the 1570s and 1580s.
