The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1913-01-24
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aurochs or the bison by so much as a word. AS
the authors Of these classics were great sports
men and close observers, this would support the
theory that both these animals had already then
become quite extinct in western Europe.
In the sixteenth century, when Europe, 80 far
as art was concerned, had at last been aroused
from its medieval stupor by the invention of
printing, and an extraordinary demand had
sprung up for pictorial matter illustrating re-
cent exploration OF new worlds and the various
forms of the chase. there were produced quite a
hugber of pictures Of the aurochs by artists,
very few OF whom had ever act eyes upon 4 live
Wild specimen, though they may have seen cap
tive ones, The one artist OF whom we positively
know that he had before him at least a stuffed
specimen was the Viennese engraver Augustin
Hiyschvogel (born in Nurnberg about 1909, who
illustrated the famous travel book Of Baron Her
bernstein, the authority most frequently quoted in
connection with the aurochs, for he was absolute
ly the last intelligent observer who saw the beast
in its wild state. and left pictorial records of his
Impressions. Herberstein was gifted with pres
Cient eyes, for he foresaw that the aurochs was
doomed to speedy extinction. Hence on his sew
eral expeditions to the unknown interior of Rus
sia as the ambassador, first OF Emperor Maxi
milan In 1868, then on many different occa-
sions as Charles VS. and Ferdinands emissary,
he made notes about 1t, and, what was much more
liIpOll olAtt p1Sh nibh Min Scb1N
skins and skulls, which he had mounted in his
house in Vieana. and from which Hirschvogel
probably drew his celebrated picture OF the
aurochs. To differentiate he drew next to 1t n
picture Of a bison. As these two portraits"
which have been published scores Of times. will
be familiar to all interested in this matter, we
will merely quote the inscriptions placed by Her
bernstein over the two pictures. for IL is a per.
fectly correct differentiation. The picture of the
bison has the following: II am a Bison. am
called by the Poles a Suber. by the Germans a
Bisont or Damthier. and by the ignorant an
aurochs." Over the woodcut Of the aurochs; 81
am an Urus which is called by the Poles a Tur,
by the Germans an Aurochs and until now by
the ignorant a Bison" The inscriptions in the
various acknowledgements volume appeared
in several anguages--vary t%rifingly, but the
above, which are taken from the edition OF 1855,
give the sense in the best form.
Shortly after Herberstein the Flemish painter
Stradanus. who lived and worked for over fifty
years in Florence from 1853 TO 1605l, produced
a drawing OF an aurochs engaged In a terrific
struggle in an arena where he was matched
against a lion. two wolves and a bear. This
original drawing is rot the least interesting Of
the twenty odd ancient pictures of the aurochg
In the writer's collection. In 1878 the Antwerp
publisher Philip Gale published this and one
hundred and three other sporting drawings by
the Florentine master, and underneath each Of
the engravings there is a L.atln Inscription. The
one under the plate reproducing the drawing