It’s probable that the first hippopotamus Peter Paul Rubens saw was a taxidermied one.

You can thank Italian surgeon Federico Zerenghi for that, as he’s the one who brought over a couple of hippo skins from Egypt, stuffed them, and exhibited them in Rome and Naples. Coincidentally, Rubens was traveling through Italy at this time. The Hippopotamus and Crocodile Hunt would be one in four paintings depicting hunting scenes commissioned by Bavaria's ruler Maximilian I. Exotic animals would be quite a gift for a ruler, due to their rarity. 

The thing with Zerenghi’s taxidermied hippo is that it doesn’t depict exactly what the hippo was like alive. In producing the hippo, it lost a bit of its bulky build. Because of this, and the fact that Rubens wasn’t familiar with this exotic species, he had to rely on a few tricks so no one would let on he didn't know what they looked like. One thing Rubens did was hide most of the hippo’s body behind the attacking animals and hunters. What came out was an anatomically correct hippo, but not a life-size hippo; what we have here is a hippo quite small. 

This is an action-packed painting, fit for any Michael Bay film. You’ve got the hippo at the focal point being attacked by the hunters and their dogs. At the same time, they’re on top of a crocodile who is angrily snapping at the man fallen to the ground. To make matters worse, the horses the hunters are riding are stomping on anything and everything beneath them.

This is Rubens' allegory of man vs. beast and nature, an intense melee taking place in an exotic landscape. It’s for you to decide who will win, as Rubens depicts only the struggle and not the victor.