The hunting of the Calydonian wild boar. Engraving by F. Lamb, 1822, after Sir P.P. Rubens.

Described as follows by Balis, op. cit. p. 91: Meleager, on the left, thrusts his spear into the shoulder of the boar at bay; two horsemen on the right also aim their spears at it. Atalanta, standing behind Meleager, has just shot an arrow. Six men, most of them only partly visible, form a screen behind Atalanta and Meleager; the man on the far left holds a dog in check; two other hounds rush at the boar, a fifth is mortally injured. In the centre the naked Ancaeus lies dead on the ground

In this scene Rubens followed Ovid's account [Metamorphoses, VIII, 270-419]. The poet relates how Diana, angered by the failure of King Oeneus of Calydon to offer sacrifice to her, sent a huge boar to ravage the land. Oeneus's son Meleager organized a great hunt in which many Greek heroes took part including the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux (seen in this painting as the two horsemen on the left). The virgin huntress Atalanta first succeeded in wounding the beast, with an arrow behind the ear. Ancaeus, who dared to challenge Diana to protect the boar, paid for his presumption with his life, as the beast ripped out his entrails. He thus died in the same manner as Adonis, and Rubens portrayed the latter's death similarly. Finally Meleager slew the monster with his hunting-spear (Balis, loc. cit.)

Edinburgh : Published by Francis Lamb of Edinburgh ; Edin.r [Edinburgh] : Sold by Macintosh ; Glasgow : [Sold by] Finlay ; [London] (Cockspur Street) : [Sold by] Colnaghi ; London (Ludgate Hill) : [Sold by] Clay, August 1 1822.

1 print : engraving, with etching ; image 41.3 x 63.3 cm

Meleager and Atalanta or the hunting of the Calidonian boar. From an original picture of Rubens in the collection of the Right Hon. the Earl of Milltown Ireland to whom this print is inscribed by his lordship's most obed.t humble servant Francis Lamb. Painted by Sir Peter Paul Rubens. Drawn & engraved by Francis Lamb. There stood a forest on a mountain brow, Which overlook'd to shaded plains below ... Lettering continues with Dryden's English translation of Ovid's description of the episode engraved in eight quatrains, with in the centre the arms (presumably) of the Earl of Milltown: the supporters are a huntsman and a hound, and the motto is Clarior tenebris

The repository of arts, literature, fashions, manufactures, &c, 2nd series, April 1 1816, vol. 1, no. IV, p. 247

Arnout Balis, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, part XVIII, Landscapes and hunting scenes; II: Hunting scenes, London 1986, pp. 91-95, no. 1, copy no. 6 (p. 91), and p. 94, note 9 ("Rooses mentions an engraving by Francis Lamb (Copy [6]) after a canvas that was in the collection of the Earl of Milltown in 1822. May we suppose that this was the original painting, or was it a copy? I have not been able to trace any specimen of the engraving.")

Wellcome Collection 3063456i

After a painting by Rubens in the same direction, for which the last known evidence is the present print: its later whereabouts is unknown (Balis, loc. cit.)