Paons, mâle et femelle

On a white marble ledge a male peacock stands with tail fanned in a display of pride, his grey-brown hen crouched beside him, while a pigeon, a chimney swallow and a goldfinch take flight behind them. Melchior d’Hondecoeter, the specialist of the Dutch vogelschilder — the painting of birds — was already being called “the Raphael of birds” in the nineteenth century; the peacock, with its admired plumage and natural haughtiness, was one of his favourite motifs, well suited to the taste of his often prestigious patrons. He signed and dated this composition 1681. The painting is held in the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris.