Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (1606–1669), Forequarters of an Elephant , ca. 1637, Counterproof in black chalk, Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1910 , I, 205
Rembrandt's Elephant
Rembrandt made several elephant sketches. The subject is thought to be a female elephant named Hansken, who traveled from Ceylon to Amsterdam in 1637. The artist paid close attention to the texture of her skin and faithfully depicted her without tusks: female Asian elephants often have small or broken tusks. She stands serenely in this image but was trained to perform various tricks to entertain the crowds who paid to see her. One observer wrote, she "dances in circles, fences an opponent with a sword, kneels... puts on a hat and takes it off."