Poultry in a Landscape

Artist Melchior d'Hondecoeter (Dutch, 1636-1695)

Place of OriginNetherlands

Datemid-late 17th Century

DimensionsPainting: 36 3/4 × 44 7/8 in. (93.3 × 114 cm)
Frame: 48 × 55 3/4 × 4 1/4 in. (121.9 × 141.6 × 10.8 cm)

MediumOil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1949.102

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 23

Label TextDutch artist Melchior d’Hondecoeter’s name became synonymous with his specialty of painting birds. He was the master in the 17th century at painting the soft, glossy, delicately colored plumage of all kinds of domestic poultry, game birds, and waterfowl—depicted as both living and dead. In this image of poultry in a farmyard, a minor drama plays out in the encounter between a tom turkey and a family of chickens. Although widely bred in Europe by the 17th century, the turkey is native to North America, while the breed of crested chicken in this painting originally came from Asia. For a prosperous Dutch art lover who would probably have displayed such a painting in his country house, the exotic breeds may have evoked the widespread trade and colonies of the Dutch Republic in the 1600s.Published ReferencesToledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 80, pl. 141.

Van der Marck, Jan, In Quest of Excellence: Civic Pride Patronage Connoisseurship , Center for the Fine Arts (Miami Fla), 1984, no. 56, pp. 215, 239, repr.

Davis, Tom, "The High Art of the Low Countries," Wildlife Art News, vol. 12, no. 3, May/June 1993, repr. p. 78 (col.). [pam file]

Vlieger, Els, "Melchior d'Hondecoeter 1636-1695: der beste mahler umb vögeln zu mahlen," Kunstschrift Openbaar Kunstbezit, vol. 39, no. 4, July/Aug. 1995, p. 16, fig. 15 (col.).

Rooj, Willem de and Benjamin Meyer-Krahmer, Melchoir d'Hondecoeter: 1636-1695, Dusseldorf, Feymedia, 2010, p. 189, pl. 29 (col.) p. 97

Exhibition HistoryDelft Art Dealers' Fair, 1949.

Wilmington Society of Fine Arts, Delaware, Dutch Exhibition Commemorating 300th Anniversary of Landing of the Dutch, 1951, no. 17.

Miami, Center for the Fine Arts, In Quest of Excellence, 1984, no. 56, pp. 215, 239, repr.