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Groote Visschery. The whale is troubled and turns herself while people are sticking her (Plate 6)
Groote Visschery. The whale is troubled and turns herself while people are sticking her (Plate 6)

Groote Visschery. The whale is troubled and turns herself while people are sticking her (Plate 6)

Artist (c 1698 - 1730)
Engraver (Dutch, 1684 - 1755)
Datec 1720
Object number00019639
NamePrint
MediumInk on paper, watercolour
DimensionsImage: 150 x 200 mm
Sight: 185 x 215 mm
Overall: 310 x 340 x 20 mm, 0.7 kg
Mount: 260 x 288 x 20 mm
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection
Collections
DescriptionColoured engraving titled 'The whale is troubled and turns herself while people are sticking her' in Dutch, German and English depicting Dutch whalers killing a whale in the Arctic. Engraved by Adolf van de Laan after artwork by Sieuwert van de Meulen.HistoryFrom an edition of the 'Groote Visschery' published by Petrus Schenk, Amsterdam, c. 1720, engraved by Adolf van der Laan after drawings by Sieuwert van der Meulen containing sixteen scenes depicting the different stages of whale fishery, such as searching for a whale, attempting to catch it, butchering it, hunting polar bears, ships being caught in ice etc. It was published ca. 1720 by Petrus Schenck, and it went through many reprints with variations, and with additional German and/or English text. It is believed that Sieuwert van der Meulen made the original drawings for the set around 1720, just after the Dutch entered Davis Strait, opening vast new whaling grounds and bringing new vitality, prosperity, and interest to the industry.The first series (Herring Fishery) with text in Dutch and English. The second series (Whaling) with text in Dutch, English and German.SignificanceThis print is part of the Chester Collection which records the ancestry of Australian whaling which followed much the same pattern as that of the northern hemisphere in earlier centuries. It began with bay whaling until supplies ran out, and then moved to hunting the whale at sea on long ocean voyages. Whaling was colonial Australia's first primary industry but whales have since acquired a different but considerable importance in the public imagination and environmental concerns.