Two Sketches of the Head of an Elephant

1786

Petrus Camper was a physician, anatomist, zoologist, palaeontologist and artist, who regularly visited the menagerie of Stadholder William V at Kleine Loo near Voorburg. There he sketched Hans and Parkie, two Indian elephants from Ceylon. This famous elephant pair was confiscated by the French in 1797 and transported to Paris, where they lived for several more years as celebrities in the Jardin des Plantes.