A Captive Diana Monkey on a Wall against a Landscape with Four Colorful Birds in the Sky

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A Captive Diana Monkey on a Wall against a Landscape with Four Colorful Birds in the Sky

Artist Melchior d'Hondecoeter Dutch, 1636-1695

Dateabout 1690

DimensionsPainting: 24 5/16 × 19 3/16 in. (61.8 × 48.7 cm)
Frame: 30 1/8 × 25 1/2 × 1 1/2 in. (76.5 × 64.8 × 3.8 cm)

MediumOil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LineGift of Mrs. George M. Jones, Jr., by exchange

Object number

2009.15

On View

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

Collections

Paintings

Published ReferencesWijngaarden, Marthe, Het Grote Oude Meester Dieren Boek, Zwolle, Waanders Uitgevers, 2014, repr. (col.) p. 15.Label TextMelchior d’Hondecoeter (pronounced deh-HON-deh-coo-ter) was the preeminent 17th-century Dutch painter of the ‘bird piece’—paintings depicting primarily birds, alive or as dead game. Here, birds play a secondary role as Hondecoeter focuses on an engaging Diana monkey. Native to West Africa, the monkey is depicted here with a leash around its body. It gets its name from its white crescent-shaped brow band, which resembles the bow of Diana, goddess of the hunt. Such exotic animals were brought to the Netherlands in the 17th century and were found in menageries of the wealthy. Hondecoeter frequently painted birds and animals from life in such settings. The painting perhaps originally formed part of the coordinated decorative ensemble for a room. When this painting appeared on the art market in 2009, the Museum immediately recognized the similarity between the monkey in the painting and the one in Giacomo Raffaelli’s 18th-century Micromosaic Box, acquired in 2005 (displayed nearby). In a remarkable case of serendipity for the Museum, it seems certain that Raffaelli knew the Hondecoeter painting, either directly or through a copy, and used it as his compositional model.