Guided tour · For children

Animal hunt

Eight animals are hiding in works of art from all over the world. Can you find them?

Opens the interactive flight at this tour, with a guide's voice. It needs a modern browser; the same works are shown below.

Works

8

Time

about 8 min

Collections

6

About this tour

Eight animals are hiding in works of art from all over the world. At every work, look carefully and tap the animal when you find it. Ready?

Our hunt starts in Egypt, about 3,500 years ago.

The 8 works

1. 

   Work 1 of 8

   Cat Seated under a Chair

   Hugh R. Hopgood, after an Egyptian wall painting · 1916; original about 1504–1458 BC · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   Someone is sitting under this chair. Who is it?

   A cat, with a red ribbon around its neck.

   People in ancient Egypt loved their cats. This one was painted on the wall of a tomb about 3,500 years ago. What you see here is a careful copy, made in 1916.

2. 

   Work 2 of 8

   Pilgrimage to the Torinomachi Festival across the Ricefields of Asakusa

   Utagawa Hiroshige · 1857 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   This white cat is looking out of the window. Can you find the birds it is watching?

   There they are: a long line of birds, high in the sky.

   Utagawa Hiroshige made this print in Edo, the old name of Tokyo, in 1857. Far away, behind the rice fields, you can see Mount Fuji.

3. 

   Work 3 of 8

   The Holy Family with Three Hares

   Albrecht Dürer · about 1497 · SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen

   A family is resting in a garden. Three animals are hiding at their feet. Can you find one?

   Three hares! One hops away on the left, and two sit together on the right.

   This is a woodcut: Albrecht Dürer drew on a block of wood, everything except the lines was cut away, and the block was printed like a big stamp.

4. 

   Work 4 of 8

   Madonna with Canon Joris van der Paele

   Jan van Eyck · 1436 · Musea Brugge, Bruges

   The baby on Mary's lap is holding a bird. Can you find it?

   A little green parrot! In 1436 a parrot was a rare pet, brought from far away.

   Jan van Eyck painted every tiny detail, even the shine on the knight's armour. Some people think the little man reflected in the knight's shield is the painter himself.

5. 

   Work 5 of 8

   Convolvulus and Metamorphosis of the Convolvulus Hawk Moth

   Maria Sibylla Merian · about 1670–90 · Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland

   This big caterpillar will change into something that flies. Can you find what it will become?

   This moth! First a caterpillar, then a hard case called a pupa, and then a moth.

   Maria Sibylla Merian raised caterpillars herself and painted every stage of their lives. She was an artist and a scientist at the same time.

6. 

   Work 6 of 8

   Two Children with a Cat

   Judith Leyster · about 1630 · Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

   Everybody in this picture is having fun… except one. Can you find who?

   The cat! It does not look happy at all.

   Judith Leyster painted this almost 400 years ago, in the Netherlands. She was one of the very few women of her time with her own painting workshop.

7. 

   Work 7 of 8

   Little Girl in a Blue Armchair

   Mary Cassatt · 1878 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

   This little girl has flopped into a big blue armchair. Someone else is resting too. Can you find who?

   A little dog, curled up asleep on the next chair.

   Mary Cassatt was an American painter who lived in Paris. She liked to paint children as they really are: bored, sleepy and a bit untidy, not sitting up nicely.

8. 

   Work 8 of 8

   Tropical Forest with Monkeys

   Henri Rousseau · 1910 · National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

   Five monkeys live in this jungle. One is hiding high up in the leaves. Can you find it?

   There it is, peeking out from a branch. Can you find the other four as well?

   Henri Rousseau painted wonderful jungles, but he never saw a real one. He lived in Paris and studied the plants in the city's botanical garden and its big glasshouses.

The end of the tour

A cat, birds, hares, a parrot, a moth, another cat, a dog and a monkey: made across about 3,400 years, from Egypt to Japan. Well done, animal hunter!

Start this tour in Auriaan

Works from these collections

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
• Musea Brugge
• Cleveland Museum of Art
• Rijksmuseum
• National Gallery of Art

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