Getting started with the collection:
Rocky Landscape with Deer and Goats
Gillis Claesz de Hondecoeter (signed by artist), 1620
Rotsachtig landschap met herten en geiten. Op de voorgrond een beek, in de verte een ruïne. In de lucht vliegen twee ganzen.
- Artwork typepainting
- Object numberSK-A-1740
- Dimensionssupport: height 17.7 cm x width 26.5 cm
- Physical characteristicsoil on panel
Identification
Title(s)
Rocky Landscape with Deer and Goats
Object type
Object number
SK-A-1740
Description
Rotsachtig landschap met herten en geiten. Op de voorgrond een beek, in de verte een ruïne. In de lucht vliegen twee ganzen.
Inscriptions / marks
signature and date, bottom left (D and H ligated): ‘GDH 1620’
Part of catalogue
Creation
Creation
painter: Gillis Claesz de Hondecoeter (signed by artist)
Dating
1620
Search further with
Material and technique
Physical description
oil on panel
Dimensions
support: height 17.7 cm x width 26.5 cm
This work is about
Subject
Acquisition and rights
Credit line
D. Franken Bequest, Le Vésinet
Acquisition
bequest 1898
Copyright
Provenance
…; bequeathed to the museum by Daniel Franken Dzn (1838-98), Amsterdam and Le Vésinet, 1898
Documentation
Related objects
Related
Persistent URL
To refer to this object, please use the following persistent URL:
Questions?
Do you spot a mistake? Or do you have information about the object? Let us know!
Gillis Claesz de Hondecoeter
Rocky Landscape with Deer and Goats
1620
Inscriptions
- signature and date, bottom left (D and H ligated):GDH 1620
Technical notes
The support is a single oak panel with a horizontal grain bevelled on all sides. The ground layer seems to be light in colour and thin. The paint was finely applied with the use of impasto for the white highlights and sunlit foliage of the trees on the right.
Scientific examination and reports
- technical report: L. Sozzani, RMA, 6 mei 2002
Condition
Fair. There are discoloured areas of retouching throughout, while the discoloured varnish is matte at those points. There is some loose paint in the centre.
Provenance
…; bequeathed to the museum by Daniel Franken Dzn (1838-98), Amsterdam and Le Vésinet, 1898
Object number: SK-A-1740
Credit line: D. Franken Bequest, Le Vésinet
The artist
Biography
Gillis Claesz de Hondecoeter (? Antwerp c. 1575/80 - Amsterdam 1638)
Gillis Claesz de Hondecoeter came from a family of Flemish artists, which had settled in Delft before 1601. He was probably born in Antwerp, since he is referred to as ‘Jelis de Hondecoeter van Antwerpen’ in a document of 1628. His earliest known work dates from 1602,1Illustrated in Amsterdam etc. 1987, p. 356, fig. 1. which suggests a date of birth of around 1575-80. He probably trained with his father, Niclaes Jansz, who was also a painter. He was living in Utrecht in 1602, and married Mayke Ghysbrechts in Delft. He settled in Amsterdam in 1610 where, as a widower, he married Anna Spierinx in 1628. He was dean of the Guild of St Luke in 1636, and was buried in the Westerkerk on 17 October 1638.
De Hondecoeter mainly painted landscapes and animal pieces. Two of his sons, Gysbert (1603-53) and Niclaas II (1608-after 1671), also became painters, while his grandson Melchior (1636-95) became the best-known painter in the family.
Yvette Bruijnen, 2007
References
Houbraken II, 1719, pp. 69-70; Campo Weyerman II, 1729, p. 387; Bredius IV, 1917, pp. 1210-40; Chong in Amsterdam etc. 1987, pp. 354-55; Briels 1997, p. 339
Entry
As already noted by Bol, this painting was clearly influenced by the rocky landscapes of Roelant Savery.2Bol 1969, p. 130. The steep cliff walls, fallen tree-trunks and bundle of sunlight, as well as the deer, mountain goats and a few birds as staffage, come from Savery’s repertoire.3See, for example, Müllenmeister 1988, p. 208, fig. 41, p. 209, fig. 42B. De Hondecoeter sets himself apart, however, through his monochrome palette and the more successful integration of the animals in the landscape.
Yvette Bruijnen, 2007
See Bibliography and Rijksmuseum painting catalogues
See Key to abbreviations and Acknowledgements
This entry was published in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, I: Artists Born between 1570 and 1600, coll. cat. Amsterdam 2007, no. 132.
Literature
Bol 1969, p. 130
Collection catalogues
1903, p. 130, no. 1214; 1934, p. 132, no. 1214; 1960, p. 139, no. 1214; 1976, p. 281, no. A 1740; 2007, no. 132
Citation
Y. Bruijnen, 2007, 'Gillis Claesz. de Hondecoeter, Rocky Landscape with Deer and Goats, 1620', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/20028078
(accessed 11 December 2025 03:40:00).Footnotes
- 1Illustrated in Amsterdam etc. 1987, p. 356, fig. 1.
- 2Bol 1969, p. 130.
- 3See, for example, Müllenmeister 1988, p. 208, fig. 41, p. 209, fig. 42B.