Still Life with Peacocks

Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1639

In Rembrandt’s time, peacocks were eaten by the well-to-do: the meat was incorporated into meat pies, among other dishes. Immediately after being killed, the birds were hung to bleed out, as Rembrandt shows us in this storeroom. He was doubtless captivated by the plumage’s splendid marks, the riot of colours: blue, green and yellow ochre.

  • Artwork typepainting
  • Object numberSK-A-3981
  • Dimensionsheight 145 cm x width 135.5 cm, height 170 cm x width 162.5 cm x thickness 5 cm
  • Physical characteristicsoil on canvas

Identification

  • Title(s)

    • Still Life with Peacocks
    • Still Life with Dead Peacocks
  • Object type

  • Object number

    SK-A-3981

  • Description

    Stilleven met pauwen. Een meisje leunt op het kozijn van een stenen venster kijkt naar twee dode pauwen. Een pauw hangt aan het openstaande vensterluik, de andere ligt op een stenen plint bij een plas bloed; op de plint staat ook een mand met fruit.

  • Inscriptions / marks

    signature: ‘Rembrandt’


Creation

  • Creation

    painter: Rembrandt van Rijn

  • Dating

    c. 1639

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Material and technique

  • Physical description

    oil on canvas

  • Dimensions

    • height 145 cm x width 135.5 cm
    • height 170 cm x width 162.5 cm x thickness 5 cm

This work is about

  • Subject


Acquisition and rights

  • Copyright

  • Provenance

    …; ? estate inventory, Clara de Valaer (1584-1660), widow successfully of Eduart van Domselaer (1568-1624) and Hendrick van Domselaer (1580/81-1652), Amsterdam, 16 October 1660, as security (‘een stuk synde twee pauwen ende een kint van Rembrant’);{Bredius 1908, p. 223; Strauss et al. 1979, p. 461, doc. no. 1660/15 } ? estate inventory of her son, Tobias van Domselaer (1611-85), Amsterdam, September 1685 (‘een groot schilderij met twee paeuwen van Rembrandt’); {Hofstede de Groot 1906, p. 419, doc. no. 359.} …; ? collection John Blackwood (?-1777), Soho Square, London;{The collector and dealer John Blackwood is known to have imported paintings from the Dutch Republic. His collection is mentioned in his 1777 will, but without specification of the individual works; London, The National Archives, Prerogative Court of Canterbury, inv. no. PROB 11/1036, 19 November 1777, Codicil p. 12.} ? his son, Colonel John Blackwood (?-1780), Cheshunt Nunnery, Hertfordshire;{According to his father’s 1777 will, he was to inherit the ‘pictures and bronzes and marble busts’ in the ‘for room up two pair of stairs’.} ? his widow, Catherine Ann Blackwood (? - 1804), Cheshunt Nunnery, Hertfordshire; ? her nephew, William Ralph Cartwright (1771-1850), Aynhoe Park, Northampton;{The collection of paintings and bronzes owned by Catherine Ann Blackwood were bequeathed to her nephew; London, The National Archives, Prerogative Court of Canterbury, inv. no. PROB 11/1405, 29 March 1804. According to The Gentleman’s Magazine, XCV (1804), p. 431, the collection inherited by William Ralph Cartwright from his aunt Catherine Ann Blackwood had been formed by John Blackwood (?-1777).} first recorded in his collection in 1819;{Lent in that year to the British Institution’s annual exhibition; see British Institution 1824, p. 162, no. 33.} his son, Sir Thomas Cartwright (1795-1850), Aynhoe Park, Northampton; his son, William Cornwallis Cartwright (1825-1915), Aynhoe Park, Northampton; last recorded in his collection in 1915;{Hofstede de Groot VI, 1915, p. 403, no. 968.} from whom purchased by the dealer Frederik Muller, Amsterdam, c. 1915;{Schmidt-Degener 1918, p. 3.} from whom purchased by Jean Joseph Marie Chabot (1857-1944), Rotterdam, Montreux, Brussels and Wassenaar, 1918 (on loan to the museum, November 1923 to 27 July 1942, SK-C-1124-I);{Schmidt-Degener 1918, p. 3.} from whom, with two other paintings, fl. 800,000, to Dr. Erhard Göpel, The Hague, for Adolf Hitler's Führermuseum, Linz, 21 July 1942 (inv. no. 2418);{Schwarz 2004, p. 146, no. XXII/10.} war recuperation, SNK, 9 November 1945 (inv. no. NK 2346);{Schwarz 2004, p. 146, no. XXII/10; MCCP website, no. 4299.} on loan from the SNK to the museum, June 1948 - 1960 (SK-C-1396); transferred to the museum, 1960


Documentation

  • The Rembrandt Database, Object information, Rembrandt, Still life with peacocks, c. 1639, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. A 3981, https://rkd.nl/en/explore/technical#search=simple&query=still%20life%20with%20peacocks, accessed 2022 February 22.


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