Farmyard Scene - Melchior Hondecoeter (1636 -1695)

Melchior Hondecoeter
Utrecht, 1636 – April 3, 1695 in Amsterdam
"Barnyard Scene"
17th Century Dutch Painter
Oil on canvas, 111 cm x 81 cm
Louis XIII frame, carved wood, gilded with gold

Melchior Hondecoeter (1636 - April 3, 1695), Dutch animal painter, was born in Utrecht and died in Amsterdam. Painter of animals, still lifes, engraver. Pupil of his father Gysbert Hondecoter and his uncle J-B Weenix. From 1659 to 1663, he worked in The Hague, then came to settle in Amsterdam where he received the right of citizenship in 1668.
He devoted himself particularly to the painting of animals, and more especially birds. In this genre, he excelled: he was called the “Raphael of the birds”.

His subjects of birds, usually exotic or wild meat, are painted in park-like landscapes. Hondecoeter's paintings depicted geese (brant goose, Egyptian goose and red-breasted goose), field fares, partridges, pigeons, ducks, northern cardinals, magpies and peacocks, but also African gray crowned cranes, Asiatic sarus cranes, Indonesian yellow-crested cockatoo, Indonesian purple-naped lori and grey-headed lovebirds from Madagascar.

He often let his art become anecdotal by taking fables as themes. His very scrupulous realism, his qualities as a draftsman and colorist are to be noted.
Melchior Hondecoeter exerted a great influence on still life and animal painters. Among his students, Houbraken cites Willen Van Royen.

Museums: Amiens, Amsterdam, Bremen, Cologne, Saint-Peterburg, Cologne, Oslo, Munich, Rouen, Venice, Stuttgart, Vienna…
Ref: Bénézit n°7, pages 151 and 152, Gründ edition.