![A Hen with Chicks, a Rooster and Pigeons [about 1675] by Melchior d’Hondecoeter (1636-1695)](barbimgs/medhondecoeter.jpg)
Pictures of the Month | January 2010
Picture of the Month
January 2010
A Hen with Chicks, a Rooster
and Pigeons [about 1675]
by Melchior d’Hondecoeter
(1636-1695)
As the Barber Institute celebrates the golden age of Dutch painting with the exhibition Going Dutch, January’s Picture of the Month features one of its highlights, Melchior d’Hondecoeter’s A Hen with Chicks, a Rooster and Pigeons.
This charming scene shows a family of chickens, set against a landscape background, and the domestic nature of the work is abundantly clear. Whilst the mother hen guards her brood, the rooster comes from behind the ledge with the air of a father returning from a long day at work, ready to greet his expectant wife with a kiss. Each of the chicks demonstrates an individual personality, from the extrovert and excitable chick on the right, fluffing out its feathers and standing tall, to the greedy black and white chick near the hen eagerly looking for something to nibble, and the shy, blonde pair who hide behind their mother’s wings. The two wood pigeons on the ledge also show different personality types, with the grey pigeon nosily observing the scene below whilst the brown bird, mirroring the pose of the hen, looks away from the scene, distracted by something outside our view. The mother hen, similarly distracted, captures the viewer with her gaze, drawing attention to herself and her brood.
Melchior d’Hondecoeter’s engaging scene demonstrates his mastery of bird painting. Hondecoeter came from a line of animal painters, with both his father Gysbert d’Hondecoeter and uncle Jan Baptist Weenix (whose work Still Life with Game in a Garden can be seen to the right) working in this genre. Melchior’s works were very fashionable and much sought after, and he soon became the most famous specialist bird-painter of the time, attracting numerous commissions from wealthy Amsterdam burghers.
Avian scenes such as these offered artists little scope for invention, and, like many of his contemporaries, Hondecoeter often repeated motifs from picture to picture. His appeal lies in the subtlety of the effects he could create and his mastery of colour. The iridescence of the pigeon’s plumage and the soft down of the chicks replicate reality to a startling degree, giving the whole work a life-like appearance. Similarly, the light effect which is presumably a sunset, gives it a magical quality, enhancing the birds’ apparent personalities within.
The Barber Institute’s current exhibition Going Dutch: Golden Age Treasures from the Holburne and Barber Collections runs until 28 February 2010. It will be the focus of a free Thursday Lunchtime Gallery talk on the 28 January.
Laura Pitcher, Barber Intern
| What is your favourite work of art in the Barber Institute galleries? Drop us a line at info@barber.org.uk and let us know, and we could feature your choice in a future Picture of the Month. |