Melchior d'Hondecoeter

Brunner Collection, Paris;
With Hall & Knight, New York;
There purchased by the present owner.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The canvas was lined recently and the paint layer was probably cleaned and restored at that time. The varnish is healthy and the retouches are accurate as far as they go. Further retouching could be considered in order to further eliminate some of the slight thinness that has developed, which has caused the brown ground color to become more apparent. The condition is reasonably impressive but further retouching would sharpen the image.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

In this unusual composition, Hondecoeter gives the viewer a window into a formal garden, filled with birds who would never be seen in close proximity.  Rather than his usual horizontal format, he chooses a vertical view, in the center of which is a fountain shooting water up into the air, emphasizing the picture's orientation.  He places a balustrade right in the foreground, separating the viewer from the garden, and then, quite startling, breaks the picture plane, allowing two of the birds, the rose bush and a floating feather to enter our space.  Although he uses a similar device in Birds on a Balustrade with the Amsterdam Townhall in the Background, now in the Amsterdam Historical Museum, here the effect is more turbulent:  waterfowl are flying in all directions, perhaps to escape the eagle, so that in the case of the bird at the far right, we only see his departing tail.