Melchior d' Hondecoeter

Chickens and Ducks

62 voorzijde
62 detail
62 achterzijde
62 ingelijst
62 voorzijde
62 voorzijde

Melchior d' Hondecoeter
Chickens and Ducks

On view in Room 12

Hondecoeter specialised in painting poultry. Here, the birds are startled by a barking dog, which appears from the left. A colourful cockerel struts off haughtily, the white duck protects her chicks and a pigeon flies off in haste.

This painting belongs with the painting of geese and ducks that is also hanging here. They come from the collection of the Orange-Nassau family, and were hung in Oranienstein Castle in Diez, Germany, in the eighteenth century.

Technical details
62 voorzijde

Melchior d' Hondecoeter
Chickens and Ducks

On view in Room 12

Upwards

Details

General information
Melchior d' Hondecoeter (Utrecht 1636 - 1695 Amsterdam)
Chickens and Ducks
painting
62
Room 12
Material and technical details
oil
canvas
115 x 136 cm
Inscriptions
lower centre: M D'Hondecoeter

Provenance

Princess Henriette Catharina; Oranienstein Palace, Diez, 1726; by inheritance to Prince William V, The Hague, 1776-1795; confiscated by the French, transferred to the Muséum Central des Arts/Musée Napoléon (Musée du Louvre), Paris, 1795-1815; Royal Picture Gallery, housed in the Prince William V Gallery, The Hague, 1816; transferred to the Mauritshuis, 1822