Dead Cock Hanging from a Nail

Dead Cock Hanging from a Nail

This rooster hanging head down from a nail, with all its feathers ruffled, looks just like the real thing, as does the grain of the wooden wall behind it. If there was no frame around it, you could almost believe this rooster was real. That is why this type of picture is called a trompe-l’oeil, or trick of the eye.
The painting is signed by Melchior d’Hondecoeter, the most celebrated bird painter of the seventeenth century. But it is not certain whether he actually painted it himself.
General information
Artist Melchior d' Hondecoeter (possibly) (1636 - 1695)
Titel Dead Cock Hanging from a Nail
Dating c. 1670
Object name painting
Material and technical details
Technique oil
Material canvas
Dimensions height: 76 cm
width: 62.5 cm
Other details
Inscriptions bears signature: M: d’Hondekoeter
Inventory number 968
Origin Private collection, Cologne, (sale Cologne, Lempertz, 6 November 1963, lot 55); S. Nijstad Gallery, The Hague, 1963; purchased, 1964

location mauritshuis Plein 29
2511 CS Den Haag