Notes

Ducks by a pond in a landscape. In the centre is a white female tufted duck, flanked on either side by a standing male. At front left sits a black duck. In the pond, at lower right, are two ducklings, at front centre floats a white feather. To the right is a tree and in the left and centre background are farm houses, with to the left a farmer in a doorway and woman doing laundry by a basin, surrounded by chickens.

Melchior d’Hondecoeter or de Hondecoeter was a Dutch painter who was one of the first in the market of still lifes and nature painting to focus on painting all kinds of birds and poultry animals in a sophisticated, sometimes dramatic composition.

The specialty of d’Hondecoeter – painting poultry – was not something the painter acquired from a stranger. His father and grandfather painted animals, and an aunt of his was married to the painter Jan Baptist Weenix, an Italianate painter. After being taught by his father, d’Hondecoeter apprenticed with his uncle Weenix. This allowed him to optimally develop his technique and use of color. In addition to scenes with birds in realistic positions, d’Hondecoeter also painted wallpapers with views of buildings and parks. Birds often played a role here too. The artist was born in Utrecht and died in Amsterdam. From 1659 to 1663 he worked in The Hague.

He liked to study religion and the Bible. Arnold Houbraken, who wrote down the story he heard from Jan Weenix, mentions that D’Hondecoeter always prayed aloud before going to sleep. He did so with such seriousness and ecstasy that his mother and uncle stood silently at the stairs, listening, doubting whether he should be trained as a painter or a preacher.

Since Melchior d’Hondecoeter rarely dated his works and was rather consistent in his style and handling once his work had matured in the course of the 1660s, it is difficult to date his works after 1670 accurately. The present painting, however, must be a relatively early work, most probably from the mid-1660s. Several paintings by Hondecoeter are dated before 1670, but often the date is not distinct.4 The first reliable date, 1658, is found on a painting of a barking dog ang and game in Le Havre.5 A date with an indistinct last digit is found on a painting of a dog and chickens (see expertise fig. 7)  which must date from the early 1660s.6 In the course of the 1660s, Melchior d’Hondecoeter improved his technique and attention to detail, paying meticulous attention to the plumage of the birds he portrayed. This is very clear in the present painting and in the next known dated work, from 1668 (see expertise fig. 8)  . His composition in that painting has become more monumental and crowded, which places the present painting before 1668, feasibly in or around 1666.

Museums with Hondecoeter paintings in their collections:

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Louvre Museum, Centraal Museum Utrecht, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Maritshuis Den Haag, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Museo del Prado, THe Wallace Collection, KMSK Antwerp, KMSK Brussels, Städel Museum, MSK Gent, Te Papa Museum of New Zealand