Hondecoeter specialized in painting birds. The artist’s large‑scale depictions, which could at times exceed 15’ in width, were purchased by rich citizens of Amsterdam who displayed them in their town houses and country estates. In addition to common ducks, hens, and roosters, Hondecoeter has here included two peacocks—a rare and foreign species that, much like tulips, was cultivated by Holland’s elite. So popular were Hondecoeter’s paintings that in the 19th century he was called “the Raphael of bird painters.”

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