Study of Two Brazilian Tortoises

One of the artists in the entourage of Johan Maurits (the 17th-century Dutch Brazil governor general) was Albert Eckhout, who recorded the Brazilian people, flora, and fauna in drawings and paintings. Eckhout painted these two red-footed tortoises on paper, with their scaly heads, shells with geometric patterns, and mouths full of sharp teeth.

The animals are grunting threateningly at each other, as the males do during the breeding season. But Eckhout made the animals more exciting than they actually are—tortoises do not in fact have teeth.

We present today's tortoises thanks to the Mauritshuis.  :)

P.S. Click here to read about Eckhout's colleague from Brazil, Frans Post, the first landscape painter of the Americas!

P.P.S. If you're up for more paintings with animals, check out our paper DailyArt Desk Calendar for 2022 here! You won't be disappointed.  :)