Dirk Valckenburg
, Dutch, 1675-1721
Title
Birds with Urn in a LandscapeDatec.1700
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
132 x 99 cm
Signedcentre right: D. Valckenburg / pinxit
Credit LineBequeathed, Mr W.S. Gubleton, 1911
Object numberNGI.625
DescriptionTwo domestic hens and a cock stand above a hill myna, a kingfisher, a drake wigeon, and a domestic drake. Perched on the urn is probably an exotic Alexandrine Parakeet. Valkenburg was trained by Jan Weenix and borrows the format of that painter here with the inclusion of a château in the distance. The realistic presentation of the birds comes from Weenix's cousin, Melchior de Hondecoeter. Some rare murals by that artist, where the park plays an equal role to that of the poultry and wildfowl, can be seen at Belton, Northamptonshire. Valkenburg bridges the two areas of the canvas with a statue of Ceres, directing the viewer's eye to a park with figures and a classical house under a suffuse sky. The rich palette and air of a graceful parade belong to the eighteenth century, when Valkenburg created some of his most elaborate compositions.
ProvenanceBequeathed, W.S. Gubleton of Belgrove, county Cork, 1911 Label TextThis is a superb painting by the lesser-known artist Dirck Valkenburg, who was active in Amsterdam in the early eighteenth century. While he had a number of noble patrons in Holland and Germany, this picture was probably intended for a wealthy merchant aspiring to own the type of château represented in the background. The birds in the foreground have been identified as (from left to right) a hill myna, a kingfisher, a drake wigeon and a domestic drake; in the middleground Valkenburg painted domestic hens and a cock. The bird on the urn is probably an Alexandrine parakeet.