ID 1230060
Lot 31 | ABRAHAM MIGNON (FRANCFORT 1640-1679 UTRECHT)
Estimate value
€ 100 000 – 200 000
Nature morte au coq et au butin de chasse
signé 'A, Mignon. fe.' (en bas, à droite)
huile sur toile
88,2 x 68,5 cm (34 ¾ x 27 in.)
Provenance
Vente anonyme, galerie Charpentier, Paris, 24 mars 1955, lot 31.
Vente anonyme, Nouveau Drouot, Paris, 2 juin 1982, (Me Labat), lot 31.
Collection particulière allemande.
Literature
C. Grimm, Still Life. The Flemish, Dutch and German Masters, Stuttgart-Zurich, 1990, p. 148, reproduit en couleurs figs. 91-93.
M. Kraemer-Nobel, Abraham Mignon 1640-1679. Catalogue raisonné, Petersberg, 2007, p. 260, n°105, reproduit en couleurs p. 261.
Further details
ABRAHAM MIGNON (1640-1679), STILL LIFE WITH ROOSTER AND GAME, OIL ON CANVAS, SIGNED
From his adoptive city of Utrecht, where he joined the studio of Jan Davidsz de Heem (1606-1684), Abraham Mignon (1640-1679) left his mark on the Dutch Golden Age with his richly detailed still lifes, characterised by his careful, almost scientific observation of flora and fauna, which he employed in his carefully construed compositions.
In the present painting Mignon takes real joy in depicting the diversity and complexity of the animal world: goldfinch, jay, kingfisher, great tit, wagtail, in each instance he highlights the characteristic features of birds, rendering the colour and texture of their plumage to perfection.
In this composition, Mignon reveals his fascination for birds. Although the painting is inherently a hunting composition, the artist succeeds in going beyond this theme. Thanks to his technical skill, meticulous attention to detail and remarkable knowledge of wildlife, as well as the presence of a goldfinch on its perch overlooking the niche, Mignon breathes a certain sense of life and warmth into the creatures represented in this elegant painting.
The presence of the cat in the lower left-hand corner is a recurrent iconographic motif in seventeenth-century still lifes. In the work by Jan Fyt (1611-1668), Game - partridge and hare - and basket of grapes observed by a cat (Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. no. 1298), a cat knocks over a wicker basket containing various dead birds, offering the viewer the spoils of the last hunt. Like Mignon's cat, who plays with the hoods worn by the hunting birds, the little feline introduces a kind of humour into the painting, breaking the apparent serenity and calm of the composition.
The presence of the cat in the present painting, rediscovered during a restoration campaign in 1982 (M. Kraemer-Nobel, 2007, op. cit. infra), distinguishes it from another version of this composition painted by Abraham Mignon, formerly held in the Schönborn collection at Pommersfelden Castle (idem, pp. 254-255, no. 102).
Artist: | Abraham Mignon (1640 - 1679) |
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Applied technique: | Oil on canvas |
Art style: | Old Masters |
Genre: | Still life |
Place of origin: | Western Europe, Germany, Europe, The Netherlands |
Auction house category: | Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings, Paintings |
Artist: | Abraham Mignon (1640 - 1679) |
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Applied technique: | Oil on canvas |
Art style: | Old Masters |
Genre: | Still life |
Place of origin: | Western Europe, Germany, Europe, The Netherlands |
Auction house category: | Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings, Paintings |
Address of auction |
CHRISTIE'S 9 Avenue Matignon 75008 Paris France | ||||||||||||||
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