Lot 33

Jacob van der Kerckhoven (1636 - 1712) POULTRY IN THE KITCHEN

This painting presents fauna themes, which no major picture gallery could do without in the 17th and 18th centuries. Poultry genres, showing live birds selected for culinary use, were among the particularly well executed works by Jacob van der Kerckohoven, the court painter of the doge of Venice in the 1660s. His works were sent to aristocratic collectors in Italy, England, and lands north of the Alps. Two chickens sit on a flat stone block on the right, a turkey stands opposite, and between them in a basket are two pairs of pigeons. Their culinary use is suggested by the heads of cabbage, two bottles of wine, and several pears. The harmonious arrangement and brilliant painting of the fowl are emblematic of the painter’s many years of experience with this theme.