Waterfowl Melchior de Hondecoeter

Melchior d’Hondecoeter was more of a specialist even among animal painters, achieving fame and prestigious commissions in his homeland for his majestically colourful depictions of birds, both native species and exotic ones. Similarly to the many Netherlandish still lifes showing flowers from different seasons all in bloom at the same time, in this picture, waterfowl from different regions are presented together in a single composition. In a landscape featuring hills, woodlands and a river, a stocky pelican is accompanied by an Egyptian goose, a magpie and a variety of ducks and geese. A more elaborate variation of the painting, supplemented with a flamingo, a crowned crane and a cassowary, was commissioned by William III of Orange and his wife, the Stadtholders of the Dutch Republic, to decorate their Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn.