(6) Leonardo and Leo Belgicus (part two)

The Allegorical Theme: Combat of Animals attributed to the Master of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist is not just based on the two Leonardo drawings shown in the previous post, but also on maps of the Netherlands in the form of Leo Belgicus, the Belgian lion, and probably on the version by Jodocus Hondius shown here.

My guess is that the The Allegorical Theme: Combat of Animals and the print of The Beheading of John the Baptist were probably published by Hendrick Hondius, who published the engraved portrait of Hieronymus Bosch at the right in the illustration below. It is well known that the engraving was based on a colored drawing of Hieronymus Bosch in an old album, and it has never been noticed that the engraving made him look a little more like the Mona Lisa. The jokes of Hendrick Hondius are sometimes complicated, and the one in the The Allegorical Theme: Combat of Animals has to do with

1) Leonardo da Vinci and Leo Belgicus, both lions, i.e. both cats

2) two cartographers and publishers of maps, Hendrick Hondius (who also published the edition of Lampsonius with the Bosch portrait) and another person named and doing business as Hendrick Hondius who published more maps, and larger maps. Hondius is Latin for hondt, i.e. a dog. The Hondius who published the Bosch portrait also published a series of maps of 's-Hertogenbosch, the city where Hieronymus Bosch lived and after which he named himself.

Based on subtle similarities to Rembrandt prints in a few places and other Hondius prints, the date of the Allegorical Theme: Combat of Animals might be in the mid-1640s.
(Details will be added in a note; also there will be more on cats and dogs above.)