Walruses on Spitsbergen

Depicted in this print by Hessel Gerritsz is an unwieldy-looking walrus mother and her pup. The youngster is still evidently in the mother's care; Gerritsz captured the pup's dependence perfectly. Indeed, this depiction of these seemingly sympathetic creatures with their thick folds of skin has a realistic air. Gerritsz drew the print as an illustration for a description of the island of Spitsbergen in the Arctic Ocean which he wrote and published himself in Amsterdam in 1613, entitled 'Histoire du pays nomme Spitsberghe'.