This is the title page of 'gloria crocodilus', an album of 82 leaves, 63 of which bear miniature emblematic roundels in bodycolour, each inscribed with a title above in latin. Its connection to the rest of the album is uncertain: it is the only page in vellum, it is not of the same dimensions as the other sheets, the title bears no relation to any of the drawings (an emblem of that title is found in nicolaus reusner's 'emblemata. Partim ethica, et physica: partim verò historica, et hieroglyphica' frankfurt, 1581) and it is seems of inferior quality to the other drawings. It may therefore be a later addition to the album which would throw open the question of the dating. This album from the wrest park library was bound at an early date in dutch red morocco leather with elegant gilt tooling, but retains its original vellum cover (1994,1001. 10. 8) within. The putative dedicatee, godefridus crell of prussia, may have belonged to the distinguished german family of crell. The album's later provenance is recorded on the protective flyleaves (1994,1001. 10. 1-5), although it has yet to be established whether all these inscriptions are dependable. The two following leaves are left blank (1994,1001. 10. 6-7), as well as the leaf behind the title-page (1994,1001. 10. 9) and the last ten leaves (1994,1001. 10. 73-82). The artist responsible for the album has not yet been identified with certainty but it might plausibly be attributed to jacob hoefnagel, son of joris, as the drawings resemble his series of emblematic roundels now in the museum of fine arts in budapest. The drawings are copied from some of the 100 engravings by matthäus merian i in julius wilhelm zincgref's 'emblematum ethico-politicorum centuria', first published by joahann thedor de bry in frankfurt, 1619 (l. H. Wüthrich, 'das druckgraphische werk von matthaeus merian d. Ae', ii, basle, 1972, no. 107, pp. 130-140). There were later editions of the book and the emblems were also reused in other publications. There is a circular gold border around each image and inscriptions in black ink and silver on leaves of thin laid watermarked paper, with thicker laid paper serving as the fly-leaves, with a wrest park bookplate pasted inside the front cover. Object Type: drawing. Date: 1634. Dimensions: height: 8.3 cm (3.2 in); width: 9 cm (3.5 in). Medium: bodycolour, gold, vellum. Collection: British Museum. Jacob Hoefnagel - Title page of Gloria Crocodilus
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