Lot 1284 Rα

Melchior de Hondecoeter was born into an important family of Dutch artists. His father Gijsbert and his grandfather Gillis were both respected painters, as were his uncle Jan Baptist Weenix and his cousin Jan Weenix. Over generations, the family specialised in the depiction of animals and hunting still lifes. Melchior de Hondecoeter followed this tradition, and was primarily famed for his paintings of birds. These showed birds in all situations, sometimes in poultry farms, sometimes in expansive landscapes, fighting or at peace. Like the fables of antiquity, these depictions of animals held up a mirror to human existence. They also fulfilled a representative function, as the keeping of birds - especially exotic birds - was a well established practice among aristocrats and patricians in the Netherlands in the 17th century. Stylistically, Hondecoeter's paintings follow the development of Dutch painting to the refined and aristocratic taste of the second half of the 17th century. This was a taste fond of opulent landscapes, often with palaces in the background, forming the backdrop for scenes of animals, also of the rich colours in which the feathers of the exotic birds were depicted.
This study of chicks bears little resemblance to the calculated, representative grandeur of Hondecoeters other works. Its charm lies in the liveliness and close observation of nature with which the animal's movements and soft feathers are depicted. The chicks are shown crouched on the ground, walking or running with their little wings outstretched, and the centre shows the head of a chick as if for a portrait. Hondecoeter used these kinds of sketches as studies for his monumental compositions (for a comparable study cf. Koller Auction, 21.3.1997, lot 29, previously Lempertz auction, 20.5.1995, lot 864).

We would like to thank Fred Meijer, RKD, The Hague, for confirming the attribution to Melchior de Hondecoeter from a digital photograph.