The floating feather
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| The floating feather |
|---|
| Melchior de Hondecoeter , ca.1680 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 159 × 144 cm |
| Rijksmuseum Amsterdam |
The floating feather (Dutch: Het drijvend veertje ) is the mainly used name of an oil painting by the Dutch painter Melchior de Hondecoeter , which is actually entitled A pelican and other birds at a pond ( Een pelikaan en anders gevogelte bij een waterbassin ). A small detail, a feather floating on the pond, supplanted the official name of the picture. The 159 cm × 144 cm work from around 1680 is in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam .
Content, story and background
Signature "MD Hondecoeter"
The feather
The painting was painted around 1680, probably for the hunting lodge of the governor Wilhelm III. from Orange-Nassau , which is now the royal palace in Soestdijk , or for the Het Loo Palais in Apeldoorn . It shows a wide variety of birds , simple and exotic, at and on a pond. Hondecoeter was known for his bird studies and especially for the realistic representation of his subjects . Although he experimented with different styles at the beginning of his career, after 1660 he favored compositions similar to that shown in the picture The floating spring : carefully observed motifs that he found on farms , in court menageries and landscape parks . Elaborate landscape or architectural elements brought the scenery to life. His paintings were admired by the regents and merchants of Amsterdam and appreciated by William III, who owned three of his works. Hondecoeter's large-format paintings were well suited for furnishing the large country estates and corresponded to the taste of the time.
Hondecoeter had his own pheasantry , but he also visited the country houses of his clients and sponsors, where he could study other exotic animals. It is said that he owned a rooster that stood still on command so that he could paint it without stopping. In addition to the pelican, the picture shows various species of wild poultry and domestic ducks , including the musk duck , the red-necked goose and the wigeon ; on the bank of the pond in the background there are large birds from different continents: a cassowary , a South African crowned crane and flamingos .
The actual name is a pelican and other birds at a pond (Een pelikaan en anders gevogelte bij een waterbassin). A small detail, a feather floating on the pond, supplanted the official name of the picture. The 159 cm × 144 cm work hangs in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. It was acquired in 1799, the property number is SK-A-175. The signature is "MD Hondecoeter" (lower third of the image above the red-necked goose).
Second version
Hondecoeter painted another very similar picture, A Pelican and Other Exotic Birds in a Park , in which some elements are identical: the birds on the water, the group of exotic birds, the pelican and, notably, the floating feather; some are similar: the landscape and the musk duck, which is fully visible; other elements are completely different: in this picture a Moluccan cockatoo is sitting , in a tree next to the pond and on the bank of the pond in the background other birds have been inserted. The exact date of creation of this picture is not known; it was probably built between 1655 and 1660.
literature
- Marleen Dominicus-van Soest: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam: The Masterpieces Guide. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 2003.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The painting on the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam website (accessed January 27, 2017)