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Melchior d'Hondecoeter, 'Birds, Butterflies and a Frog among Plants and Fungi', 1668

About the work

Overview

A frog, crouched in the foreground and glittering like a jewel, appears to be causing a stir. The male birds looking down at it seem angry or excited by its presence: they prowl, flutter their wings or glare, feathers ruffled. On a top branch is a chaffinch, fluffing out its plumage; its mate sits below, next to a tree sparrow. The bird closest to the frog, and about to attack, is probably a brambling, a kind of finch.

There was great interest in the natural sciences in seventeenth-century Holland. Many collectors prized pictures like this for their accuracy, displaying them alongside scientific instruments and specimens including stuffed birds and animals. Melchior d'Hondecoeter may well have drawn and sketched his creatures from such a collection; he may even have had one himself. Some collectors, however, bought works like his simply as exotic and dramatic additions to the decoration of their houses.

Key facts

Details

Full title
Birds, Butterflies and a Frog among Plants and Fungi
Artist dates
1636 - 1695
Date made
1668
Medium and support
oil on canvas
Dimensions
68.3 × 56.8 cm
Inscription summary
Signed; Dated
Acquisition credit
Presented by J. Whitworth Shaw, 1886
Inventory number
NG1222
Location
Not on display
Collection
Main Collection

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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