Hunters with hounds overcoming a wild boar. Etching by P. Soutman after Sir P.P. Rubens.

Set in modern times (rather than in antiquity). Described as follows by Balis, op. cit. p. 115 (left and right have here been reversed to take account of the reversal of the etching): The ferocious boar, in the centre of the composition, is hemmed in on all sides by huntsmen and hounds. On the right, behind a fallen tree, are three beaters with poised javelins and a fourth blowing a horn. A young horseman dashes in from the left, and a second horseman, in the centre, is about to despatch the animal with his sword. On the left is a small group of onlookers: a man and two elegant ladies. One hound is biting the boar's side, another its ear; below, on the right, three wounded dogs are lying on the ground, and two more on the left are trying to get at the savage beast.

The horseman in the centre seems to be trying to gouge out the boar's left eye with his sword, bending the sword blade for the purpose

[Antwerp] : P. Soutman invenit effigiavit et excud. cum privil, [between 1615 and 1657]

1 print : etching, with engraving

Laxentur canes, stringantur enses, telaq(ue) mitte. Insat aper frendens, ni perimis, perimet. P.P. Rubens pinxit. P. Soutman inuenit effigiauit et excud. cum privil. In the lettering, "insat" may be a mistake for "instat", in which case the lettering would mean: Let the hounds be released, let swords be drawn, and throw javelins: the boar stands its ground gnashing its teeth; unless you kill it, it will kill

Arnout Balis, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, part XVIII, Landscapes and hunting scenes; II: Hunting scenes, London 1986, pp. 112-118, no. 4, copy no. 13 (p. 114)

Wellcome Collection 3055865i

After a painting by Rubens in the opposite direction ca. 1615-1618, which was removed from Neues Schloss, Schleissheim, in 1761 and deposited by 1802 in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Marseilles, where it remained