MELCHIOR DE HONDECOETER (1636-1695)

Cockerell with Hens in a Farmyard (1681)

Oil on canvas (84 x 69 cm)

Private collection

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Pupil of his father Gysbert Hondecoeter and of his uncle Jan Baptiste Weenix, Melchior began his career with a different speciality from that by which he is usually known. He painted maritime pieces, but he soon changed fish for fowl. In 1659 he moved to The Hague where he became a member of the painters’ guild. He acquired celebrity as a bird painter, which he represented, not exclusively, like Johannes Fyt did, as a gamekeeper’s bag after a day of shooting, but as living beings with their passions, joys and fears. He excelled at his craft and was known as The Raphael of the Birds.

According to the historian Arnold Houbracken, Melchior de Hondecoeter spent most of his leisure hours drinking in the company of other artists and when he died he left his daughters with substantial debts. His best works are at The Hague and Amsterdam but there are also fine examples at the Wallace Collection (London), Berlin, Budapest, Cologne, Detroit, Dresden, Florence, Glasgow, Hannover, Kassel, Lyons, Montpellier, Munich, Paris and Rotterdam

Here is the quintessential proud rooster. Painted with such scrupulous realism that one could believe is the portrait of a particular bird. The colours are bold and the draughtsmanship is impeccable. The wonderful white hen at the left shows Melchior’s eye for detail and expressive naturalism. He captured the animals either in movement or at ease with a unique facility and naturalness.