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HONDECOETER, MELCHIOR
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See also:HONDECOETER, MELCHIOR D' (c. 1636-1695), Dutch painter, was See also:born at See also:Utrecht, it is said, about 1636, and died at See also:Amsterdam on the 3rd of See also:April 1695. Old historians say that, being the See also:grandson of Gillis and son of Gisbert d'Hondecoeter, as well as See also:nephew of J. B. Weenix, he was brought up by the last two to the profession of See also:painting. Of Weenix we know that he married one Josina d'Hondecoeter in 1638. Melchior was, therefore, related to Weenix, who certainly influenced his See also:style. As to Gillis and Gisbert some points still remain obscure, and it is difficult to accept the statement that they stood towards each other in the relation of See also:father and son, since both were registered as painters at Utrecht in 1637. Both it appears had practised See also:art before coming to Utrecht, but where they resided or what they painted is uncertain. Unhappily pictures scarcely help us to clear up the See also:mystery. In the Ftirstenberg collection at Donaueschingen there is a "See also:Concert of Birds" dated 162o, and signed with the See also:monogram G. D. H.; and we may presume that G. D. H. is the See also:man whose " See also:Hen and Chickens in a Landscape " in the See also:gallery of See also:Rotterdam is inscribed " G. D. Hondecoeter, 1652 "; but is the first See also:letter of the monogram to stand for Gillis or Gisbert? In the museums of See also:Dresden and See also:Cassel landscapes with sportsmen are catalogued under the name of See also:Gabriel de See also:Heusch (?), one of them dated 1529, and certified with the monogram G. D. H., challenging See also:attention by resemblance to a See also:canvas of the same class inscribed G. D. Hond. in the See also:Berlin Museum. The question here is also whether G. means Gillis or Gisbert. Obviously there are two artists to consider. one of whom paints birds, the other landscapes and sportsmen. Perhaps the first is Gisbert, whose son Melchior also See also:chose birds as his See also:peculiar subject. Weenix too would naturally See also:teach his nephew to study the feathered tribe. Melchior, however, began his career with a different speciality from that by which he is usually known. Mr de Stuers affirms that he produced See also:sea-pieces. One of his earliest See also:works is a " Tub with See also:Fish," dated 1655, in the gallery of See also:Brunswick. But Melchior soon abandoned fish or See also:fowl. He acquired celebrity as a painter of birds only, which he represented not exclusively, like See also:Fyt, as the gamekeeper's See also:perquisite after a See also:day's See also:shooting, or stock of a poulterer's See also:shop, but as living beings with passions, joys, fears and quarrels, to which naturalists will tell us that birds are subject. Without the brilliant See also:tone and high finish of Fyt, his Dutch See also:rival's birds are full of See also:action; and, as See also:Burger truly says, Hondecoeter displays the maternity of the hen with as much tenderness and feeling as See also:Raphael the maternity of Madonnas. But Fyt was at See also:home in depicting the coat of See also:deer and dons as well as plumage. Hondecoeter cultivates anarrower See also: Hondecoeter, in See also:great favour with the magnates of the See also:Netherlands, became a member of the painters' See also:academy at the Hague in 1659. See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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