"De Arte Venandi Cum Avibus" of The Emperor Frederic II
Vadim Gorbatov's wonderful detailed painting of a Hunting Party of Emperor Federick II.
Frederick inherited a love of falconry from his Norman ancestors. According to one source, Frederick replied to a letter in which the Mongol Khan Batu invited him to "surrender" that he would do so provided only that he be permitted to become the Khan's hawker. He maintained up to fifty hawkers at a time in his court, and in his letters he requested Arctic gyrfalcons from Lübeck and even from Greenland. He commissioned his Syrian astrologer Theodor to translate the treatise De arte venandi cum avibus, by the Arab Moamyn, and he corrected or rewrote it himself during the interminable siege of Faenza. One of the two existing versions was modified by his son Manfred, also a keen falconer.
Frederick loved exotic animals in general: his mobile zoo, with which he impressed the cold cities of Northern Italy and Europe, included hounds, elephants, giraffes, cheetahs, lynxes, leopards and exotic birds.
Prints available from stock.
A4 £20.00 GBP
A3 £30.00 GBP
A3+ £35.00 GBP
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