Melchior d'Hondecoeter (1636-1695)Melchior d'Hondecoeter's specialty, painting , was something of a family business. Melchior's father and grandfather had both been interested in animal painting, and his Aunt Justina was married to the painter Jan Baptist Weenix, an Italianate artist. After studying with his father, d'Hondecoeter was apprenticed to his Uncle Weenix, and this gave him a great opportunity to develop his technique and his use of colour to the full. As well as scenes of birds in strikinglyRemarkable realismArnold Houbraken noted in his biography of artists that d'Hondecoeter had managed to train a rooster to remain stationary in a particular pose whenever he commanded. This unlikely tale was intended to emphasise the remarkable realism of d'Hondecoeter's paintings. natural attitudes, d'Hondecoeter also painted wall hangings with views of buildings and parks. Here, too, birds were usually involved somewhere. The artist was born in Utrecht and died in Amsterdam. From 1659 to 1663 he worked in The Hague. |
