Battle between Birds and Quadrupeds

Artist/Maker

DatesMade: Made 1660s or 1670s Made: Made 1660s or 1670s

Material / Technique

Dimensionsh x w x d: Mått 20,5 x 30 x 0,1 cm h x w x d: Ram 36 x 47 x 6 cm

Inventory numberNM 490

AcqusitionBequest 1867 assistant under-secretary J. G. Netzel.

Other titlesTitle (sv): Strid mellan fåglar och fyrfotingar Title (en): Battle between Birds and Quadrupeds

DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 110: Technical notes: The support consists of a plate of copper about 0.5–1.9 cm thick. Before preparation the copper was prepared with parallel grooves to ensure adherence – something that can be discerned in the metal where there are paint losses. A thin, black opaque layer covers the copper and could be a ground or oxidisation of the metal. The paint layer consists of several thinly and opaquely applied layers. Vegetation and the birds have been painted over the background. A reserve was left for the ostrich and partial reserves have been left for the other animals, the rest painted over the light foreground and middle ground. The light blue sky is applied thinly though in places more thickly with delicate brushstrokes using an evenly ground pigment with occasional coarser particles of (carbon) black. The animals are rendered precisely in terms of colouring and appearance. The most minute details of feathers, eyes, fur etc. are depicted with almost scientific precision using a pointed brush (this can only be seen through a microscope). The vegetation in the foreground and the leaves are painted in detail. The bushes in the background are rendered more lightly without clear outlines of their foliage against the sky. The palette consists of earth colours and accents of red in the rendering of the animals. The paint layer is generally abraded. The painting underwent conservation treatment in 1935. Provenance: Johan Gustav Netzel, Stockholm; bequeathed by Johan Gustav Netzel to the NM in 1867 (inv. 1861/67, no. 1412). Bibliography: NM Cat. 1867, p. 34; Sander IV, p. 137; Göthe 1887, pp. 129–130; Göthe 1893, p. 162; Göthe 1910, pp. 180–181; Granberg 1911–1913, I, p. 83; NM Cat. 1958, p. 103; NM Cat. 1990, p. 187. In an indeterminate landscape setting a violent confrontation is taking place between, on one side, a cluster of birds and, on the other side, a variety of wild ani- mals, indigenous European as well as exotic species, a fox, a weasel, a marmot, a goat, a ram, a leopard, a serpent, a salamander and a hare running off to the left. The birds include wild as well as domestic varieties: birds of prey (owls), water fowl (ducks, geese, herons, curlew), poultry (a rooster, a hen), an ostrich and a parrot. The artist depicts the animals at the moment when the fight seems to be turning in favour of the birds, pressing forward towards their enemies on the left, although the outcome of the struggle is still uncertain. Thus, in the tumult a fox tries vainly to defend itself against the attack of an owl that has sunk its talons into its prey, while a marmot and a weasel have successfully cornered another owl lying prostrate on the ground. This painting is an example of the numerous little cabinet pieces – painted on small format copper or wood panels and frequently in large series – which Van Kessel began producing in the early 1650s and continued up to at least 1670. The looser handling when compared with earlier works by the artist, suggests that the present picture can probably be dated in the 1660s or 1670s. Beside his well-known painstakingly detailed studies of insects, Van Kessel’s oeuvre also included bird concerts and scenes of fighting animals inspired by those of the Antwerp animal painter Frans Snyders – whose work he also occasionally copied in small format – as well as various series depicting live animals in landscapes that recall the miniature art of Jan Brueghel I.1 Interesting examples of the latter are the series, from the 1660s, depicting The Four Parts of the World now in Madrid (Museo Nacional del Prado)2 and Munich (Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek),3 composite pictures containing recognizable town views, or other geographical locations, in Europe, Asia, Africa and America, each with a selection of animals associated with the particular continent prominently displayed against the slightly out-offocus backgrounds, all grouped around a larger allegorical centrepiece. The possibility that this painting once belonged to such a series must be dismissed, however, in view of the great mix of animals represented. Certain motifs seem derived from the contemporary emblem literature, for example, the heron attacking its prey in mid-air, or the curlew struggling with a serpent in the foreground.4 Discussing scenes of animal struggle by Snyders, Robels observed that they call to mind a Netherlandish proverb popular in the 17th century: “as it is in the wild wood, where one eats or is eaten, so it is in this world”.5 The same meaning might be applied to the present picture. CF 1 Cf. the animals depicted in NM 490 with the wide variety of species – nearly all of which were probably studied from life – in Jan I Brueghel’s many paradise scenes, the earliest of which dates to 1594 (Rome, Galleria Doria Pamphilj). See Ertz 1979, pp. 236-249. And cf. his oil study, Sketches of Ducks and Birds, of c. 1615 (present whereabouts unknown); see Los Angeles/The Hague 2006, p. 69 (under no. 4), fig. 44. 2 Composite picture, oil on copper, each of the 40 small panels 17 x 23 cm, signed “I. V. Kessel fecit” and dated “1660”, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, inv. no. 1554; for which see Díaz Padrón 1995, I, pp. 646–659, repr. in colour. 3 Composite pictures mounted in original frames, oil on copper, the four large central panels, each ca.48 x 67.5 cm, surrounded by sixteen smaller ones, each c. 14.5 x 21 cm, signed and dated between 1664 and 1666, Munich, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen Alte Pinakothek, inv.nos. 1910–1913; for which see Renger 2002, pp. 231–246, illus. 4 Cf. the 16th-century emblem depicting a falcon attacking a heron in midair, for which see Henkel and Schöne 1967, col. 785, illus.; cf. the image of the eagle and the serpent in Ulisse Aldrovandi’s Ornitologia (Bologna 1599–1603), bk. I, pp. 44–46, for the eagle’s antipathy to serpents. For emblems of assorted birds, eagles, storks, etc., attacked by snakes, see Henkel and Schöne 1967, cols. 768, 831. 5 See Robels 1989, p. 316 (under no. 209), citing De Wercken van Jacob Cats, ed. J. van Vloten, Zwolle 1862 (reprint Groningen n.d.), p. 186. See also Hans Marcus, Niederländische Sprichwörter des 17. Jahrhunderts (Kat. XVII), Düsseldorf 1974/5, no. 165. [End]

Exhibited

Collection

MaterialOil paint, Copper (Metal)

TechniquePainting

Object category

Keyword