JAKOB BOGDÁNY | A LANDSCAPE WITH A PEACOCK, A MAGPIE, AND OTHER VARIOUS BIRDS

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 8 May 1931, lot 47 (as Attributed to Jacob Bogdany), to McDonald, for £25-4;

Chemical Bank, New York, by 1964;

From whom acquired by the present owner in 2004.

With this painting of domestic and exotic fowl in a grandiose garden setting, Bogdány is following in the tradition of Melchior d'Hondecoeter. Bogdány would have been familiar with the work of Hondecoeter during his residence in Amsterdam between 1684 and 1686. Such influence can be seen not only in the obvious choice of animal subject, but also in the motifs decorating the landscape, like the stone wall ruins in the foreground along with the architectural structure beyond.

Following his time in Amsterdam, Bogdány settled in London where his vivid still life and bird paintings were coveted by the aristocracy. Queen Mary and Queen Anne were among his clientele, and it was through Queen Anne that Bogdány met Admiral George Churchill (1654-1710), the younger brother of John, 1st Duke of Marlborough. Churchill had an aviary full of unusual birds at Windsor, which perhaps inspired Bogdány's fascination with accurately depicting birds as demonstrated in this painting. Many of the birds depicted here reoccur with variations in other paintings by Bogdány ^[1].

^1. See Jacob Bogdani, c. 1660-1724, exhibition catalogue, London 1989, no. 9 and 19.