ABRAHAM HONDIUS | Three dogs attacking a crane in a landscape

Anonymous sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 10 May 1994, lot 51, where acquired.

H.-J. Raupp (ed.), Niederländische Malerei des. 17. Jahrhunderts der SØR Rusche-Sammlung, vol. 5, Stilleben und Tierstücke, Münster/Hamburg/London 2004, pp. 142-45, cat. no 28, reproduced in colour;

W. Pijbes, M. Aarts, M. J. Bok et al, At Home in the Golden Age, exh. cat., Zwolle 2008, p. 40, cat. no. 11, reproduced in colour.

Abraham Hondius was born in Rotterdam to a stonemason, and it was here that he likely trained under Pieter de Bloot and Cornelis Saftleven. He remained in Rotterdam until about 1659, after which time he spent a few years in Amsterdam before moving to London in 1671, where he lived and worked the rest of his life. Hondius was a painter, etcher and draughtsman whose output primarily centred around the theme of animals, though he did occasionally explore landscape, genre, and history subjects. The present painting is exemplary of his works produced from around 1660-80, namely hunting themes and animals fighting. This scene is set against an orange and yellow evening sky, which not only lends a degree of drama to the event unfolding in the foreground but also highlights the lively brushwork with which the animals have been faithfully rendered.

Other comparable treatments of this energetic subject are found in many private collections and museums, including a pair of works in the Staatliches Museem, Schwerin.¹

1 https://rkd.nl/explore/images/270233 and https://rkd.nl/explore/images/270236