12 minute read
seCtion 6 | Hunting still lifes
“the … artist had expended his whole skill in giving life to these lifeless creatures … ” (Johann wolfgang goethe, From my Own Life: Truth and Poetry, 1811–1833. trans. A. i. w. Morrison, 1849)
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Cornelis lelienbergH (the Hague, ca. 1610/1630 – the Hague, after 1676) Still Life with Wild Birds and Hunting Rifle
early 1660s oil on canvas, 80 × 101.5 cm signed lower left: : C.V. Lelienberg f. purchased from dezső somogyi, 1951 inv. no. 51.2888 Museum of fine Arts, Collection of old Master paintings
in seventeenth-century Holland, members of the nobility were keen to see their favourite pastime – hunting – depicted in paintings. from the mid-century onwards, portraits of models in hunting costumes, hunting scenes, and still lifes with bagged animals became popular among the wealthy bourgeoisie, who increasingly emphasised their growing prestige and imitated the habits of the aristocracy. in the 1650s, in the Hague, the seat of the governor, a number of painters specialised in depicting bagged prey as the trophy of the nobility, and Cornelis lelienbergh became the most important exponent of this type of hunting still life. in this painting, there is no trace of the simple composition and restrained palette that had characterised his earlier work. the hectic drapery, the elaborate hunting rifle, the strikingly painted duck, hare and bird, the dynamism of the setting along vertical and diagonal axes, are all characteristic of the new style of representation that became dominant in the 1650s, which aspired to decorativeness and grandeur. the strong chiaroscuro and the meticulously rendered naturalism serve to deceive the eye, with the trompe l’ oeil effect further enhanced by the floating feathers, which create the illusion of a fleeting moment.
CsAbA Hertelendy
literAture: pigler 1967, 377 (table 324); sullivan 1984, 90, cat. no. 5, 101; Wausau 1989, 92–93, cat. no. 28; ember 2011, 171–72, cat. no. 53.
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78–79
1680s oil on canvas, 79.5 × 101.5 cm Monogrammed lower left: I.VD K. transferred from the Hungarian national Museum, 1877 inv. no. 851 Museum of fine Arts, Collection of old Master paintings
1680s oil on canvas, 80 × 102 cm Monogrammed lower left: I.VD K. transferred from the Hungarian national Museum, 1877 inv. no. 895 Museum of fine Arts, Collection of old Master paintings
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kerckhoven learnt the basics of the genre in Antwerp from Jan fijt, one of the most important masters of flemish animal painting. in 1685, he moved to Venice, where he incorporated the influence of his italian peers into his art and became a successful painter under the name giacomo da Castello. the few paintings made by him that are on display in budapest were made before his trip to italy and are among the most high-quality pieces in his oeuvre. thematically they are somewhat different. one only shows bagged game: a wild boar’ s head with a rabbit carcass on it, various birds in front and behind, a huge celery in the background and two fruits on the right. the other consists of a cluster of birds, both live and dead, next to a large lemon. the composition is dominated by two bare-necked turkeys with their legs tied together, perched on a richly pleated, blue-striped cloth. both paintings reflect the master’ s unique style and exceptional vision. His paintings are characterised by a decorative, almost unrealistic arrangement of realistically painted details, a striking contrast between light and shade, an overall tone of brownish ochre, a two-tiered division of motifs in an elliptical form, and a rustic atmosphere. these and similar still lifes have complex meanings and may have served a variety of purposes. As well as fulfilling a decorative function, they could also remind their owners of their prosperity and hunting triumphs. their theme and melancholic tone evoked the idea of memento mori (’remember death’) and drew attention to the inherent violence of life.
AnnAMÁriA gosZtolA
literAture: gosztola in Summary Catalogue 2000, 90–91; willigen and Meijer 2003, 121; ember 2011, 161–65, cat. nos 49–50.
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AbrAHAM VAn CAlrAet (dordrecht, 1642 – dordrecht, 1722) Bagged Partridge
1670–1690 oil on copper, 47.2 × 38 cm signed upper right: AC purchased from the collection of frigyes glück, budapest, 1949 inv. no. 9835 Museum of fine Arts, Collection of old Master paintings
the importance of hunting became increasingly important in the netherlands in the second half of the seventeenth century. it still remained a privilege of the aristocracy and was governed by strict laws. only members of the court were allowed to hunt deer and big game. noblemen could shoot hares and larger birds (wild ducks, partridges, swans) in limited numbers, but songbirds could be shot at any time. Citizens were only allowed to hunt on their own land, if they could afford to spend any of their income on it. thus, depictions of hunting were associated with high social status, be it a hunting still life for a bourgeois home or a trophy for an aristocratic apartment. Among birds, the partridge, with its fine plumage, was a recurring theme, a gamebird of distinction, as it was commonly hunted by the nobility. However, according to Cesare ripa ’ s book of emblems, the Iconologia, it was also the embodiment of fornication, unbridled lust and lechery. in this painting, all this is obscured by the stark reality of mortality, accentuated by the plasticity and dramatic tone created by the strong contrast of light and shade. similarly composed paintings of bagged and hung partridges previously suggested the authorship of willem van Aelst, and later of his follower Hendrik de fromantiou. in 2012, the painting was attributed by fred Meijer to Abraham van Calraet of utrecht.
CsAbA Hertelendy
literAture: pigler 1967, 21; Wausau 1989, 136, cat. no. b16; Summary Catalogue 2000, 71; ember 2011, 87–90, cat. no. 25; Meijer 2012, 20–25.
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pHilipp ferdinAnd de HAMilton (brussels, 1664 – Vienna, 1750) Still Life with Hare and Birds
1698 oil on canvas, 98 × 83 cm signed and dated lower right, on the edge of the stone: Philip F. de. Hamilton. / 1698. purchased from the esterházy collection, 1871 inv. no. 726 Museum of fine Arts, Collection of old Master paintings
born in brussels, philipp ferdinand de Hamilton was court painter to Joseph i and his successors in Vienna from 1705, but he also worked for the schwarzenbergs, the liechtensteins, and prince eugene of savoy. in addition to hunting scenes, he painted depictions of birds and other animals for his clients ’ palaces in Vienna and bohemia. this early painting still follows the netherlandish tradition. the motif of a bagged hare hanging among birds and hunting equipment is of flemish origin, but the closest relatives of Hamilton’ s painting are to be found in works by dutch masters, such as the 1681 hunting still life by Jan weenix ii (städel Museum, frankfurt). the setting for weenix is a castle park – a type of still life not unknown to Hamilton himself, as proven by his work in the Alte pinakothek in Munich. the dark background only hints at the balustrade railing behind the stone table, bearing a gunpowder horn, a flintlock rifle, a velvet hunting bag, and a game bag. However, the rooster that appears alongside the bullfinch and rosefinch lying on the table suggests that it is not a display of a specific kill. the colourfulness of the rooster’ s feathers contrasts with the hare ’ s monochromatic fur, and indeed the very presence of the domestic fowl is a testament to the fact that hunting still lifes developed from the kitchen still lifes of the second half of the sixteenth century.
Miklós gÁlos
literAture: ember in Wausau 1989, cat. no. 17; garas in Summary Catalogue 2003, 62; ember 2011, cat. no. 33.
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JoHAnn pHilipp Von purgAu (linz, 1681 – Vienna, after 1720) Killed Roebuck
1710s oil on canvas, 95.5 × 155.5 cm signed lower left: P. v. Pvrgav. f. purchased, 1999 inv. no. 99.5 Museum of fine Arts, Collection of old Master paintings
Johann philipp von purgau, who originated from linz, produced many small still lifes, often painted on copper, depicting birds and reptiles; he was a specialist in this field. this larger image, with its compositional and spatial uncertainties (the body of the dog on the left hardly fits between the tree stump and the mound) suggests that the painter was venturing into unknown territory with this work. the motif of a deer killed during the struggle dates back to mid-seventeenth-century flemish painting. the nineteenth-century inscription on the old stretcher frame of the painting, reading “snyders ” , not only indicates that the signature on the painting went unnoticed (or was perhaps deliberately ignored), but also shows which famous painter the work was intended to be attributed to, and even points out the source of the composition. frans snijders was the school-founding master of flemish hunting still lifes. in his painting from ninety years earlier, depicting a deer hunt, preserved at the royal Museum of fine Arts in brussels, the deer appears in the same position. the dynamism in snijders ’ s hunting scene is softened to a still life in purgau’ s painting, with the snarling of the dogs fading into more subdued interest. this mood, creating the sense of an idyll, is also enhanced by the woodpecker sitting on the oak stump. the realistic depiction of the oak and the pine testifies to the artist’ s effort to reflect the flora characteristic of the areas around Vienna.
Miklós gÁlos
literAture: Bulletin 2000, 143; Summary Catalogue 2003, 106.
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gAbriele sAlCi (rome, 1681 – ?, after 1720) Still Life with Bagged Hare and Birds
1719 oil on canvas, 99 × 75 cm signed lower right: Gabriello Salci / Romano 1719 purchased at the 7th auction of the bÁV Commission trading House and pawn Credit Company, budapest,1963 inv. no. 63.9 Museum of fine Arts, Collection of old Master paintings
Very little is known about gabriele salci’ s life and career. At the end of the seventeenth century, in rome, under the influence of Christian berentz, Maximilian pfeiler and Cristoforo Munari, he painted carefully elaborated still lifes and animal scenes in a northern style. His corpus of known works, which is not extensive, features sumptuous arrays of luxury objects (tableware, glassware) as well as hunting still lifes, one of the most striking of which is held by the Museum of fine Arts, depicting a bagged hare, a wild duck, and partridges. the bounteous prey lies on a stone table covered with a colourful oriental carpet, with spreading vines across the top of the scene like a canopy. the double-barrelled shotgun resting on the vine-stock and the gunpowder rack visible behind the animals indicate the human presence and the means by which the game was killed. the elegant setting, the spectacular composition, and the detached objectivity of the animal carcasses make it clear that the painter’ s intention was not to dramatise death but to create a decorative, sophisticated overall effect. salci’ s technical prowess is evident in the way he conjures up the illusion of the soft, downy feathers, the velvety fur of the hare, the fluffy carpet, and the dewy grapes.
ZsuZsAnnA dobos
literAture: Mravik 1989, 145–46; garas 1991, 46–48; Summary Catalogue 1991, 106.
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1720 oil on canvas, 72.6 × 59.3 cm signed lower middle: Gabrielle Salci Romano / 1720 purchased at the 63rd auction of the bÁV Commission trading House and pawn Credit Company, budapest, 1984 inv. no. 84.5 Museum of fine Arts, Collection of old Master paintings
gabriele salci’ s hunting still lifes not only include spectacular works featuring an array of bagged animals and objects, but also more modest compositions with a few select motifs. Among them is this painting, whose theme is as simple as can be: a bagged red fox and the corpse of a hedgehog are laid on the ground in their natural habitat, the rocky soil of a forest clearing. the backdrop for the scene consists of just a few wild flowers – violets and daisies –, and some bushes in the distance. whereas the bagged fox is a common motif in baroque hunting still lifes, the hedgehog was hardly ever depicted, even though it has been widely hunted since antiquity. salci, driven by a desire for scientific accuracy, painted every strand of the fox ’ s fur and every spine on the hedgehog’ s back in an almost hyperrealist fashion, using a thin brush. this distinctive aspect of his style, painting so meticulously that the details can be appreciated at close quarters, was remarked upon in connection with his painting of bagged birds and a wild boar, which appears in the 1731 inventory of the earl of pembroke ’ s collection in wilton House. while the viewer becomes engrossed in observing the painterly details that emerge in the contrast of light and shade, there is also a message of “memento mori” , a merciless reminder that all things must die.
ZsuZsAnnA dobos
literAture: garas 1991, 46–48; Summary Catalogue 1991, 106.
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kÁroly JAkobey (kúla [kula, serbia], 1826 – budapest, 1891) Hunting Still Life
1852 oil on canvas, 92 × 72 cm signed lower right: Jakobey Károly Baján 1852. purchased, 1949 inv. no. fk9820 Hungarian national gallery, Collection of 19th- and 20th-Century painting
during his career, károly Jakobey painted only a few still lifes, but even among these, his Hunting Still Life is a rare exception. the painting was first exhibited at the 1852 pest Art exhibition. He used warm colours to portray a lifeless ensemble of hare, dove, woodcock and mallard, depicting the animals ’ features in various positions with naturalistic precision. Hunting still lifes are characterised by the presence of some kind of hunting equipment, in this case a hunting bag, alongside the game. the group of animals, arranged in a still life-like composition, is placed in a natural setting by the painter. Jakobey ’ s ability to depict animals so faithfully was not only due to his keen skills of observation; it is likely that he himself was also an avid hunter. despite the success of the painting at the exhibition, he never exhibited a still life again. this probably had something to do with the negative press reaction, which claimed that, as a well-known painter of religious scenes, he ought to concentrate on painting more serious themes than the less appreciated genre of still life.
ildikó bACsA
literAture: nagyszandai szekeres 1938, 62; telepy 1979, 447; szvoboda dománszky 2007, 355; Budapest 2020, 12.
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