Concert of Birds
Artist/Maker
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 166,3 x 244,8 cm
Inventory numberNMDrh 645
Other titlesTitle (sv): Fåglarnas konsert Title (en): Concert of Birds
DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 189: Technical notes: The painting’s support consists of two pieces of medium-weight, plain weave fabric, loosely woven of irregularly spun threads, and joined by a vertical seam near the centre. The fabric support has been lined and mounted on a non-original strainer. The original tacking edges have been removed on all sides and part of the paint surface has been folded over the edges of the strainer to form new tacking margins, reducing the height and width by c. 2.2–2.3 cm, but pronounced cusping along all edges indicates that the original dimensions have been largely retained. The fabric support has sustained damage in the form of a short horizontal tear at the lower left (above the heron’s right foot). The fabric support was prepared with a thin white ground layer, followed by smooth, beige imprimatura applied overall, and intended to hide the weave structure, that remains visible through the thinly applied paint of the landscape. The birds’ contours were initially sketched with a fine brush in dark grey paint on the beige imprimatura, the underdrawing now partially visible to the naked eye (legs and claws of both herons on the left, tail feathers of the red macaw on the left). The birds were painted first, after which the landscape and the sky, the most thickly painted area of the picture, were then filled in. The painting is generally in good condition. A discoloured layer of old varnish is present. The weave structure of the original fabric support has been reinforced through the lining process. Abrasion and losses of paint and ground layers occur along all four edges. Scattered discoloured retouches are visible, especially in the birds and the trees. The painting underwent conservation treatment in 1928 and 2008. Provenance: Drottningholm, by 1867. Exhibited: Stockholm 2010, no. 93. Two blasted tree stumps silhouetted against the sky accomodate a great multitude of birds of different sizes, shapes, colour and plumage. An owl conducts the chorus of birds, beating time for them as they join their voices – noisily – in song. All species are represented, an odd assortment not to be found together in nature, poultry and water fowl as well as birds of prey, small song birds as well as colourful parrots. Some birds, such as the peacocks and parrots, are not known for their musicality, the beauty of their plumage contrasting with the raucousness of their calls. Distinctive physical traits, vocalizations and behaviour, distinguish each species. The scene includes a pleasant rural landscape of rolling hills dotted with clusters of trees and a river or lake. The bird concert was one of Frans Snyders’ most popular avian subjects. He produced endless variants of such designs, most of which date to his mature period, in the 1620s and ’30s.1 Snyders’ bird scenes also achieved great popularity among his followers, including his younger brother-in-law Paul de Vos, who painted numerous bird concerts in his manner. While the overall design of the present work does not correspond exactly to comparable pictures by Snyders, specific motifs and birds were clearly modelled after the master’s autograph works, presumably based on (lost) individual studies after nature shared among artists. The motif of the owl beating time, though not the same bird, occurs in a painting in Cape Town (The Max Michaelis Coll.),2 and another in St. Petersburg (The Hermitage), the latter tentatively attributed by Robels to De Vos,3 whose special talent lay in the portrayal of live animals in movement. The swan is identical to that in a picture on the London art market in 1971, a variant of a painting at Petworth House, Petworth/Sussex; the heron in the left foreground recurs in both paintings.4 The male peacock on the left, its shimmering tail feathers viewed from behind, can be found in the St. Petersburg painting, as well as a picture on the Dutch art market in 1924.5 The birds’ great vitality, their animated movements and poses in the Drottningholm picture, so similar in spirit to the St. Petersburg Bird Concert of the 1630s, stand out in comparison with Snyders’ more restrained compositions, particularly the owl vigorously beating time with its claw and the large birds on the left, the peacocks, parrot and herons, which seem to compensate for their lack of beautful singing voices by intensive body language and outstretched necks. The allegorical subject of the bird concert originated in the Middle Ages, but was rarely represented until Snyders popularized it in the 17th century. Visual inspiration for these decorative pieces may have come from Jan Brueghel I’s allegorical pictures of the Element of Air.6 The meaning of Snyders’ bird concerts, however, seems to lie elsewhere. De Mirimonde relates the theme to animal satire, derived from classical antique sources, in which different animals appear as musicians, a motif also popular in the marginal drolleries of medieval books of hours.7 The variety of birds in bird concert pictures, including some with ugly singing voices, may allude to the proverb, “Elck vogeltge singt soo’t gebeckt is” (“Each bird sings with its own beak”), a theme popular in the emblematic literature. 8 Snyders seems to have been the first painter to place an owl as conductor at the head of the flock of birds. In doing so he followed the compositional scheme of a subject, popular since the late 15th century, in which an owl is surrounded, derided, and attacked by a flock of hostile birds.9 Seen as a representative of sin and vice in the Middle Ages, the owl’s ancient association with wisdom had been revived by the late 16th century. This positive association allowed Snyders to create new meaning with his bird concerts, which Koslow locates “within the context of the humanistic debate between those who argued for the superiority of nature’s artfulness over the artifice of art fabricated by the human hand and conceived by the mind of man”.10 The bright palette and decorative effect of bird concert pictures was probably intended to be appreciated from a distance, in the context of a richly appointed room.11 In the 17th century imported exotic birds were the object of considerable interest among the wealthy, for whom they were a sign of privileged status, and poultry, once the attribute of the simple peasant, was increasingly viewed as a status symbol as inhabitants of the poultry yards of elegant country estates. Ornithological information was richly supplied by the illustrated studies of natural historians such as Ulisse Aldrovandi’s Ornithologiae (Bologna 1599-1603), an encyclopaedic compendium about birds, a copy of which was owned by Rubens.12 CF 1 See Robels 1989, 114–17, and cat.nos. 193–201. 2 Oil on canvas, 135 x 178 cm, 1620s, Capetown, The Max Michaelis Coll., see ibid, cat. no. 193, illus. 3 Oil on canvas, 136.5 x 240 cm, St. Petersburg, The Hermitage, inv. no. 607; see ibid, cat. no. A 205I, illus. (as attributed to Paul de Vos). 4 Oil on canvas, 168 x 300 cm, Petworth/Sussex, Petworth House (National Trust House), and oil on canvas, 165 x 292 cm, Thos Agnew & Son Ltd., 1971; see ibid, cat.nos. 198 I, 198 II, illus. 5 Oil on canvas, 71 x 108 cm, sale, Amsterdam, Frederik Muller, 25 June 1924; see ibid, cat. no. 201, illus. 6 See Robels 1989, p. 115; Koslow 1995, p. 291. For Jan Brueghel I’s compositions, the earliest of which dates to 1608, see Ertz 1979, p. 374, cat. nos. 249, 372, figs. 440, 447. Cf. a representation of a congregation of birds gathered before a song book attributed to a follower of Brueghel in Brunswick, Herzog-Anton-Ulrich-Museum, see De Mirimonde, p. 265. 7 See De Mirimonde 1964, pp. 259f. In Late Medieval manuscripts, for example, a fox or a wolf frequently invite geese or other birds to sing and dance, see ibid, figs. 16–17. 8 Cf. Marcus 1974/75, no. 118, cited by Robels 1989, p. 115. The same theme was treated by Jacob Cats in a moralizing poem titled Elck vogeltge singt soo’t gebeckt is, for which see Alle de wercken, soo oude als nieuwe, I (Amsterdam, 1700), p. 635, cited by Koslow 1995, p. 296. 9 On the one hand, the subject could symbolize Christ, represented by the owl, attacked by non-believers portrayed as birds, on the other hand, the owl could represent the devil, or evil in general, set upon by the forces of virtue. See Vandenbroeck 1985, cited by Koslow 1995, p. 298. 10 See Koslow 1995, pp. 298–299. For the owl’s positive, secular associations, Koslow refers to the example of Joris Hoefnagel’s depiction of this bird (fol.20) grasping a caduceus, an attribute signifying the arts and sciences, in the Calligraphy Pattern Book of Georg Bocskay of 1591–94 in Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum, see her fig. 406. 11 An entry in an Antwerp inventory of 1645, “eenen schouwdoeck wesende eenen Vogelsanck”, refers either to a chimney screen or chimneypiece picture; see Duverger 1991, p. 246, cited by Koslow 1995, p. 291. Many bird concert pictures come from Spanish collections, where they served as over-doors or chimney screens; see the 1655 inventory of the paintings collection of Diego Mexía, Marquis of Leganés published by López Navío 1962, pp. 272, 276, 301, cited by Koslow 1995 p. 291. 12 Rubens acquired his copy in 1613, see Mcrae 1971.[End]
Collection
TechniquePainting
Object category