David de Coninck, Dead Birds and Game with Gun Dogs and a Little Owl

Against the setting sun, three hunting dogs rest under a large tree, beside an overflowing basket of dead birds and game. The two on the right are chained up following the shoot; one sniffs the ground or laps water from an unseen bowl, while the other stares, distracted, out of the picture frame. The unchained dog looks quizzically at a little owl, a type commonly used as a decoy bird during hunting, which stares unblinkingly out at us.

The distinct plumage of song thrushes, jays and a redstart, as well as a duck and a partridge, can be seen among the unceremonious pile of dead birds. A large hare carcass lies prominently on its back across the birds. Stiff with rigor mortis, its position echoes that of the shotgun lying across its blood-flecked body.

While a naturalistic still life, this scene also invites the viewer to address the hierarchy of nature: the dominance of humans and their weapons, the subservience of the trained hunting dogs and the owl, and the vulnerability of their unfortunate prey. Birds who escaped the shoot fly in the sky above, free for now.

David de Coninck specialised in animal and still-life pictures such as this. He was born in Antwerp, but spent most of his career in Rome, although he also worked in Paris and in Brussels (where he died). This picture, once owned by an Italian nobleman, was probably painted during the artist’s stay in Rome between about 1672 and 1694.