Who painted Plate 48: Guinea Pig and Hedgehogs with Melon and Cobnuts?

Plate 48: Guinea Pig and Hedgehogs with Melon and Cobnuts was painted by Joris Hoefnagel in 1594.

Where can I see Plate 48: Guinea Pig and Hedgehogs with Melon and Cobnuts?

Plate 48: Guinea Pig and Hedgehogs with Melon and Cobnuts is held by National Gallery of Art.

What movement is Plate 48: Guinea Pig and Hedgehogs with Melon and Cobnuts?

Plate 48: Guinea Pig and Hedgehogs with Melon and Cobnuts is associated with Renaissance.

Artwork

Plate 48: Guinea Pig and Hedgehogs with Melon and Cobnuts

Joris Hoefnagel , 1594

Plate 48: Guinea Pig and Hedgehogs with Melon and Cobnuts is a gouache drawing by the Renaissance artist Joris Hoefnagel. It dates from 1594 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.

About this work

Overview

Created around 1594, this small rectangular composition by the Flemish artist Joris Hoefnagel depicts a domestic guinea pig alongside two hedgehogs, set before a sliced melon and a sprig bearing cobnuts. Rendered in watercolor with touches of gold on parchment, the image combines natural observation with ornamental framing, characteristic of late‑sixteenth‑century manuscript illumination.

Subject & Meaning

The work presents a quiet tableau of modest fauna and fruit, emphasizing the textures of fur, shell and rind. By juxtaposing the curious guinea pig with the spiny hedgehogs, Hoefnagel draws attention to the diversity of small creatures, while the melon and nuts suggest abundance and seasonal bounty, a common motif in still‑life symbolism of the period.

Technique & Style

Gold paint outlines the decorative border and highlights selected details, lending a luminous quality to the parchment surface.

Hoefnagel employed fine watercolor washes to model the animals’ bodies, achieving a delicate gradation of tone. Gold paint outlines the decorative border and highlights selected details, lending a luminous quality to the parchment surface. The rendering balances scientific exactness—visible in the precise anatomy of the hedgehogs—with the ornamental flourish typical of northern European illuminated manuscripts.

History & Provenance

The piece belongs to Hoefnagel’s broader corpus of natural‑history studies, produced during his mature phase when he contributed to both printed works and private manuscripts. Though its original commission remains unidentified, the drawing survived as part of a collection of similar plates that circulated among collectors interested in exotic fauna, reflecting the artist’s reputation as one of the last practitioners of the illuminated manuscript tradition.