(Utrecht 1636–1695 Amsterdam)
A rooster, hens, a crow and a buzzard in a landscape,
signed upper centre: M D Hondecoeter, lower left an old inventory number 867,
oil on canvas, 103 x 127 cm, framed

Provenance:
Collection Gustav Adolf Graf von Gotter (1692–1762), Berlin, 1736;
Collection Heinrich Reinhard Roeder von Schwende (1697–1756), Great Chamberlain and Master of the Horse of the Duke of Württemberg, Ludwigsburg;
his heirs;
Wilhelm I, King of Württemberg (1781–1864);
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (1843–1923);
in exchange to Karl Haberstock, Munich, 14 March 1923;
sold to an unknown collector, 15 April 1923;
Private collection, Switzerland;
from where acquired by the present owner

During the seventeenth century, animal painting was very popular in the Northern Netherlands and in Flanders. The theme of a poultry farm with exotic birds was seen as a reconstruction of paradise, where all different kinds of birds live peacefully together. Such representations of birds were allegedly used as illusions to society: in terms of social class, solidarity, and harmony, but also as far as conflicts within these communities were concerned.

Melchior de Hondecoeter was the most outstanding painter in that genre and more than deserves his sobriquet as being the Raphael amongst animal painters. Born in Utrecht in 1636, he went to The Hague in 1659 and became member and chairman of the painters’ guild. In 1668 he received the citizenship of Amsterdam, where he died in 1695. Compared to his precursors, Hondecoeter was extremely gifted and particularly able to paint animals in motion as well in flight. He observed and studied the animals he painted meticulously. The feathers of the animals are rendered brilliantly. His compositions were meant to meet decorative and aesthetic demands.