# Tapir in the Water

- By: Willem Hendrik Wilhelmus van Royen (Amsterdam, 1672–1742)
- Date: 1706
- Medium: paper, deck paint, ink, gouache (paint)
- Classification: drawing
- Dimensions: height 157 mm x width 147 mm
- Credit line: Gift of J.C.J. Bierens de Haan, Amsterdam
- Museum: [Rijksmuseum](https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/RP-T-1940-602--98ac55fb361ad592a071064d203441c6)
- Rights: [Public Domain Mark](http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/71ec61be06827e7c93385226c058a1ab.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

For the first time in European history, in 1704, a live tapir was displayed in Amsterdam on the Botermarkt (now the Rembrandtplein). Emperor Leopold I had ordered the capture and taming of the animal so that people could see the creature up close. It was there that the Amsterdammer Willem van Royen saw it and afterwards made this drawing.