Hans Verhagen de Stomme

Hans Verhagen de Stomme or Hans Verhagen der Stomme (alternative spelling family name: Verhaghen) (c. 1540-1545 in Mechelen – c. 1600 in Antwerp) was a Flemish painter and draftsman whose exact drawings of animals were influential on other artists who regularly copied them.

Life He was born in Mechelen and is mentioned in 1554/55 as a pupil in Antwerp of the Mechelen painter Anthuenes (Anthoni) Bessemer. His works can be regarded as the start of scientific animal illustration in Antwerp. His zoological reliability had a significant influence on other artists, such as Hans Bol and Joris Hoefnagel. Hoefnagel used some of the drawings of Verhagen as models for his four-volume manuscript of natural history miniatures. Anonymous artists working in the later 16th century and the early 17th also copied his work.