Still Life with an Owl and a Hunting Trophy | MSK Gent
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Still Life with an Owl and a Hunting Trophy

  • oil paint, canvas
  • 68 x 93 cm
  • Inv. 1907-A

Public Domain

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Peter Boel was famous as a painter of hunting scenes and still lifes with hunting spoils. He was a pupil of Frans Snijders. He also had a reputation abroad for his skills in drawing and painting animals. Indeed, the French King Louis XIV commissioned Boel to execute numerous animal studies which were then used in tapestry designs. In Still Life with an Owl and a Hunting Trophy we see hunting spoils, comprising a dead hare and fowl, and a live owl chained to a birdcage. The hunter used the owl as a decoy. Next to the owl he placed a lime-twig to catch finches and goldfinches. Their irrepressible desire to provoke the owl from his sleep blinded them to the imminent danger. To the right of the cage stands a heavy vase depicting a drunken Bacchus. His excessive drinking makes him victim to a hangover. The moral is clear: Giving himself up to excessive lusts robs man of his freedom.

Artist

Pieter Boel RKD Wikidata
Antwerp 1622 - Paris 1674
painters (artists)AAT

Title Still Life with an Owl and a Hunting Trophy
Period 17th century
Collection paintings AAT
Object type oil paintings (visual works) AAT
Inventory number 1907-A
Acquisition credit purchase
Galerie Sedelmeyer
Paris
1907
Current whereabouts Work on display
Permalink https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/1907-A
IIIF Manifest https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/445/manifest.json
Art & Architecture Thesaurus 300015638 still lifes AAT
Keywords Iconclass 25F26(HARE) rodents: hare Iconclass
25F32(FINCH) song-birds: finch Iconclass
25F32(GOLDFINCH) song-birds: goldfinch Iconclass
25F34 owls Iconclass
25F39(WOODPECKER) other birds: woodpecker Iconclass
25G(+32) plants; vegetation (+ flowers, blossom, blossoming) Iconclass
34B1311 empty bird cage Iconclass
34E3 animals tied up Iconclass
41A641 statues, sculptures in garden Iconclass
41A772 container of stone: stone vase Iconclass
41C6 foodstuffs; still life of foodstuffs Iconclass
41E still life of miscellaneous objects Iconclass
41E1 still life of related objects Iconclass
43C1113 bird hunting Iconclass
92L17911 the drunken Bacchus Iconclass
School / Style Baroque AAT
Museum van Schoone Kunsten : Catalogus ; Oude Meesters, Schilderstukken, teekeningen, plaatsneden (met geschiedkundig overzicht) / Maurice Dupuis, Georges Charles Nicolas Marie Hulin de Loo, Fritz Van Loo. - Gent : Drukkerij F. De Vos, 1938 ; Gent : Stad Gent, 1938 (p. 59)
Chefs-d'oeuvre du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand (exposition itinérante 'Quarante chefs-d'oeuvre du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand' Bruxelles, Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 12 février - 6 mars 1949 ; Liège, 12 mars - 3 avril 1949 ; Luxembourg, 9 avril - 1 mai 1949 ; Lille, 14 mai - 12 juin 1949) / Georges Chabot, Paul Eeckhout. - Bruxelles : Editions de la Connaissance, 1949 (p. 5, 11; nr. 12)
Guide du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand, Orné de 52 reproductions de tableaux : Extrait du guide illustré de Gand / Jos. Casier. - Gand : Anc. Maison d'édition Vanderpoorten, 1949 (p. 23)
A Tondo by C. Engebrechtsz / Julius Samuel Held. - [s.l.] : [s.n.], [s.a.] (p. 59)
Pieter Boel / Jan-Pieter Ballegeer. - [s.l.] : [s.n.], [s.a.] (p. 74-75)
Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent / Robert Hoozee. - Brussel : Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, 1988 (p. 46, 56)
Vliegwerk : Vogels in de kunst / Matthias Depoorter. - Amsterdam : Athenaeum-Polak & Van Gennep, 2015 (p. 111)
200 jaar verzamelen : Collectieboek Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent / Arnout Balis, Robert Hoozee, Maximiliaan P.J. Martens, Paul Van Haute. - Gent : Ludion, 2000 (p. 266-267 (ill. 35))
Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : Catalogus schilderkunst ; Deel I: 14de - 18de eeuw ; Deel II: 19de - 20ste eeuw / Robert Hoozee, Johan De Smet, Bruno Fornari, Ruth Monteyne. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2007 (dl. I, p. 57 (ill.))
L' Oiseau Bleu : Op zoek naar geluk (tentoonstelling Gent, Sint-Pietersabdij, 09.12.2011 - 22.04.2012) / André Capiteyn, Christian Angelet, Martine Van Asch, Robert Beachboard, W.F. Vande Walle. - Gent : Kunsthal Sint-Pietersabdij, 2011 ; Gent : Uitgeverij Snoeck, 2011
Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent : De collectie (tentoonstelling vanaf 21 maart 2021) / Johan De Smet, Bart Ooghe, Frederica Van Dam, Lieven Van Den Abeele, Cathérine Verleysen. - Gent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten Gent, 2021
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand : La Collection (exposition dès le 21 mars 2021) / Johan De Smet, Bart Ooghe, Frederica Van Dam, Lieven Van Den Abeele, Cathérine Verleysen. - Gand : Musée des Beaux-Arts de Gand, 2021
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