A Flemish Seventeenth Century Still Life Painting

David de Coninck (1643-d. circa 1701)
Still Life with Birds, Monkeys, Flowers and Fruits in an Italianate Setting
Oil on canvas
Probably painted in Rome, date circa 1675-85
Canvas: 122 x 172 cm. The frame: 122 x 184 cm.
This large and exotic still life demonstrates David de Coninck’s infinite ability as a painter. As one of the leading seventeenth century Flemish masters to specialise in still lifes, especially those populated by birds, animals and hunting scenes, he was able to develop an international career that took him from his home town of Antwerp to work for extended periods in Paris, Vienna, Munich, Venice and especially Rome, where this painting was probably executed. Highly acclaimed during his lifetime, he found many patrons amongst the royal courts as well as amongst the aristocracy and rich bourgeoisie. Further acknowledgement of his repute came in him being appointed a member of a number of significant art institutions, including membership to the Sint-Lucasgilde in Antwerp in 1663, the Accademia di Luca in Rome in 1686 and the Sint-Lucasgilde in Brussels in 1701.
The present work, which is among one of David de Coninck’s finest examples of High Baroque still painting, is imbued with rich colour, sumptuous elements and intricate details. Included is a selection of exotic birds from a white cockatoo and toucan at centre, a guinea fowl to the lower left, beside a pair of white plumed cockerels. There are also two red parrots, one with a white beak, perched on the branch of a tree on the far right and another with a black beak, perched on a classical urn. The latter bird rests beside another parrot with red tipped tail feathers, which is possibly an African grey parrot. In addition to these tropical birds are two monkeys, the one to the left is most probably a squirrel monkey while the one to the right, eating fruit, is probably a green monkey. David de Coninck’s painting also includes a variety of fruits and plants such as bunches of grapes and blue morning glories, whose tendrils and foliage, together with the grapevines, entwine themselves around the classical urn. We also see pomegranates, which the squirrel monkey enjoys eating while the other monkey feasts itself on passion fruits that lie beside him, strewn on the bare earth.
The exotic flora and fauna are juxtaposed amongst a collection of classical props to include an ornate urn on a marble base, an upturned pottery pitcher, various plinths and other antique remains in addition to canted tree trunks. Integral to the composition is a finely painted background to the far right, which portrays an Italianate garden, complete with tall Cyprus trees, neatly trimmed hedges, a cascading stone fountain and behind it, a statue of a classical female deity or maiden, which together give the impression of Arcadian abundance. Such a juxtaposition of contrasting exotic and classical elements would have greatly appealed to an educated and affluent seventeenth century clientele.
Still life painting became a speciality of Flemish and Dutch painters during the seventeenth century. In addition to delighting the eye, these works captured the fleeting beauty of the natural world. They also reminded the viewer that life is transient. Paintings such as this combine naturalistic flowers and fruits that would never reach their peak at the same times of the year, nor would they, the birds and monkeys coexist within the same habitat and especially not within an Italianate setting. Those who were well-educated would have known that such a scene was an imaginary construction, which was part and parcel of its appeal. In addition, collectors of a work such as this would have appreciated the symbolism of the flora and fauna, for instance morning glories and passion fruit symbolised love and passion, whilst pomegranates were associated with resurrection, immortality, and fertility. At the same time fruit in general, particularly exotic fruits like pomegranates and passion fruits symbolized extravagant splendour, which in turn reflected the wealth belonging to collectors of such works.
De Coninck and his contemporaries often included birds in their still lifes. Among the array of exotic fowl are several parrots. The upper classes loved these birds not only for their colour and rarity, but also because of their ability to mimic humans. Parrots were often included in Flemish and Dutch still life paintings just as other objects were, for they were a symbol of economic power and visual extravagance. It was therefore no coincidence that the most flamboyant and expensive tulips, much treasured by Dutch seventeenth century collectors, were called parrot tulips.
During the seventeenth century, when decorative oil paintings started to become fashionable, scenes with birds as the main subject appeared almost immediately. While some featured domestic barnyard fowl or game birds, others, as here, portrayed exotic species that sparked the imagination of painters and viewers alike. Since de Coninck’s birds are so realistic, it is very probable that he, like his Dutch contemporary and fellow master of still life painting Melchior d’Hondecoeter (1636-95), had access to newly formed aviaries, for instance at royal and princely courts, where species from all over the world were assembled and could be studied. Such scenes were highly sought after by Continental patrons as well as English aristocrats, who specifically collected bird paintings by Flemish artists.
The tradition in Flanders for still life paintings with birds and animals can be traced back to Frans Snijders (also known as Snyders - 1579-1657), an influential painter of still lifes and scenes with animals who often collaborated with his friend Peter Paul Rubens. Snijders’ pupil was Joannes Fijt (also known as Jan Fyt - 1609/11-1661), the leading Flemish animal painter of the mid seventeenth century, who was the teacher of Peeter Boel (1622-1674), who eventually became court painter of animals to King Louis XIV. Significantly it was Boel who trained de Coninck. Since David de Coninck rarely signed his works, which are of a similar style and have the same high quality as those by Snijders, Fijt and Boel, they have sometimes been confused with another.
David de Coninck (also referred to as Koninck) was born in 1643 in Antwerp, the son of the silversmith Jan Baptist de Coninck Dujardin and his wife Josijne Bleeckaerts and was baptised on 15th December 1643 in the parish of Onze Lieve Vrouw-Noord. As the son of a silversmith, David de Coninck grew up with an innate artistic understanding. In 1659 he began his apprenticeship at the Sint-Lucasgilde in Antwerp and studied under Peeter Boel up until 1664. After leaving Antwerp de Coninck moved to Paris. There he worked for several years for the influential Flemish animal painter Nicasius Bernaerts (1620-78), who was commissioned by the royal court and was a member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Paris. De Coninck’s time in France came to an end in 1669, after which he travelled to Munich, where he spent several months during 1669 working as a court painter to the Electress. At the end of 1669 and for much of 1670, de Coninck was in Vienna, which was followed by a short period spent in Venice, during 1670-71.
In 1671, de Coninck moved to Rome where he found great success and sold many paintings to local noblemen, foreign kings and aristocracy including Louis XIV and Eugene of Savoy as well as English gentlemen during their Grand Tour such as John, 5th Earl of Exeter who, during his first and second Grand Tour to Italy, acquired eight works by de Coninck for his home at Burghley House in Lincolnshire. Whilst in Rome, de Coninck was influenced by the artistic milieu in which he worked. Among his colleagues were Giacomo Galli, Lo Spadino and Michelangelo di Campidoglio, with whom he shared compositions and motifs. He also acquired the nickname or alias of Rammelaer (meaning rattle), after becoming a member of an association of mainly Dutch and Flemish artists working in the city, known as the Bentvueghels,. The Bentvueghels often congregated at the Santa Costanza church in Rome, where he, like other members of this high-spirited group, inscribed his name on a wall in one of the side chapels. This practice was finally banned by Pope Clement XI in 1720.
Whilst working in Rome, he lived at various address including Via San Sebastianello (1672-75) along with the Flemish portrait painter Jacob Ferdinand Voet (1639-89). From 1677-79 de Coninck was recorded as living at Via Frattina and then later, during 1693 and 1694 he was recorded at Via delle Mercede, a small side street not far from the Spanish Steps.
After many years in Rome, de Coninck travelled to Vienna, where he lived from 1694 up until 1699 and where in February 1696 he was paid by the Archduke 200 guilders for two paintings. De Coninck was still in Vienna in 1698 when the Dutch portrait and decorative painter Mattheus Terwesten (1670-1757) stayed there but by the following year he had moved to Brussels where he became a member of the Sint-Lucasgilde in 1701. This event was the last mention of his name in any documentary records, and though the exact date and whereabouts of his death is unknown, it is believed that he probably died in Brussels shortly after 1701. Beyond the success in his own life time, his work was to have a direct influence on other slightly younger painters, such as Baldassare De Caro (1689-1750), Nicola Malinconico (1663-1726), Franz Werner von Tamm (1658-1724) and Jacob Xavier Vermoelen (c.1714-84).
Today David de Coninck’s work can be found in many important international collections from the National Gallery in London (Dead Birds and Game with Gun Dogs and a Little Owl); Burghley House in Lincolnshire (eight works); Victoria Art Gallery, Bath (A Cat watching Rabbits and Fowl); Lamport Hall in Northamptonshire (Poultry and Cat and Game and Dog, both acquired by Sir Thomas Isham, 1678); Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire (River Scene with Ducks and Geese being attacked by Hawks) and Weston Park in Shropshire (Hunting Still Life). In addition to English collections, de Coninck’s paintings are also owned by the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (Tote Wildenten); the Galleria G. Franchetti alla Ca’d’Oro, Venice (Natura Morta con Uccelli Palustri); the Museum Bredius, den Haag (Still life with Hound and Parrot -which features a very similar cockatoo to the one in the present painting); the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, (two floral still lifes – one featuring a very similar squirrel monkey and the other a similar red parrot as shown here); Palais Fesch Musée des Beaux-Arts, Ajaccio, France (Nature Morte aux Lapins); the Kunstmuseum in Basel (Stillleben mit Früchten und Blumen, Papagei und Hund and Stillleben mit Wild und Früchten, Papagei, Kaninchen und Katzethe – which includes the same red parrot as here in a different pose); Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (two still lifes with flowers and fruit in an architectural setting, which are said to have been painted in collaboration with Abraham Brueghel). His work can also be found in America at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Owl attacking Chickens, Ducks, and Hares), while other examples from his oeuvre have been owned by a number of important private American collectors including William Randolph Hearst, whose painting of A Still Life of Fruit on a Silver Dish with Figure, Rabbits, Parrot, and Monkey Beneath a Broken Capital and an Ornamental Urn was sold by Freemans Hindman Auctions 18th February 2020, lot 8. Other past private collectors of his work include Mrs. John L. Marion, whose sizeable collection of bird paintings and other works included de Coninck’s Landscape with a Peacock, Parrot, Chicken, Turkey, two Rabbits and a Guinea-pig, which was sold by Sotheby’s New York, 20th May 2021, lot 36.