Why did Rembrandt portray an elephant in his famous etching Adam and Eve in 1638? Michiel Roscam Abbing answers this question in Rembrandt?s Elephant, the most detailed account of the most famous elephant of the 17th century. Hansken, an elephant born in Ceylon, was brought to Amsterdam on board a Dutch East India Company ship in 1633. She was taught all sorts of tricks and went on tour throughout Europe. Peasants, townspeople and country folk alike readilly paid to see how she fired a pistol, brandished a sword and took off her hat. This intelligent animal caught the imagination of Vondel, Barlaeus, Rembrandt and many other of thier famous contemporaries.