Still Life with Birds

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

Place of OriginNetherlands

Datemid 17th-late 17th Century

DimensionsH: 21 7/8 in. (55.5 cm); W: 18 7/8 in. (47.8 cm)

MediumOil on canvas.

ClassificationPaintings

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

Object number

1962.69

Not on View

Label TextMelchior d’Hondecoeter’s name became synonymous with his specialty of 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 exotic fowl—depicted as both living and dead. Here he portrays freshly killed game birds hung before or set on the ledge of a wall niche. The hanging partridge still has the net and stakes used to capture it tangled around its legs. The brightly plumed kingfisher and the plump finch on the ledge are balanced by a single feather fallen from the partridge. Hondecoeter designed the composition as trompe-l’oeil (“fool the eye”)—the hook, hanging partridge, and bottom part of the kingfisher seem to realistically project into our space.Published References"Treasures for Toledo," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, new series, vol. 7, no. 4, Winter 1964, repr. p. 87.

Wittmann, Otto, "The Golden Age in the Netherlands," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 474, repr. (b&w) fig. 16, p. 473.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 80, pl. 142.

Sullivan, Scott A., The Dutch Gamepiece, Montclair, NJ, 1984, pp. 71, 72, fig. 147.

Trafalgar Galleries at the Royal Academy IV, London, 1985, p. 24, fig. 1.

Davis, Tom, "The High Art of the Low Countries," Wildlife Art News, vol. 12, no. 3, May/June 1993, repr. p. 77 (col.).

Exhibition HistoryDelft, Antique Dealers' Fair, 1962

Toledo Museum of Art, Treasures for Toledo, 1964-1965.

Columbus Museum of Art; West Palm Peach, Norton Gallery & School of Art, More Than Meets the Eye, 1985, no. 43, pp. 23, 77, repr. pp. 23, 97.