National Gallery of Art :: The Collection :: Still Life with Dead Game
  • Overview
  • Inscription
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography

Overview

Still lifes with hunting motifs became popular in Dutch art in the latter part of the seventeenth century, at a time when Dutch society grew wealthier and more refined. One of the most important artists in this tradition was Willem van Aelst, who came from Delft but trained and worked for a number of years in France and Italy.

Van Aelst depicted a number of dead animals hanging above and resting upon a stone ledge on which a blue and gold hunter's game pouch lies. The animals were painted very precisely, and most of them can be identified. Aside from the large European hare and roosters are a partridge, kingfisher, and common wheatear. Also visible are two falconer's hoods, perhaps to indicate the nature of the hunt.

That Van Aelst's painting was intended to represent the general theme of the hunt rather than the spoils of a specific hunt is evident from the relief depicting Diana and Actaeon on the front of the stone ledge. This popular story from Ovid's Metamorphoses describes how Actaeon, a mortal hunter, accidentally disturbs Diana, the goddess of the hunt, at her bath; Diana transforms him into a stag as punishment.

Inscription

lower right below table top: Guill.mo van. Aelst. 1661.

Marks and Labels

null

Provenance

Probably (sale, Amsterdam, 14 October 1749, no. 16).[1] Dr. C.J.K. van Aalst, Huis-te-Hoevelaken, by 1939;[2] (sale, Sotheby Mak van Waay, Amsterdam, 18 May 1981, no. 1); (Richard Green, London); sold 8 June 1982 to NGA.

[1] This sale was kindly brought to the attention of Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. by Tanya Paul; see her letter of 30 October 2007, in NGA curatorial files. The sale consisted of works from the collections of Johan Diedrick Pompe van Meerdervoort, Burgemeester of Dordrecht, and the painter Jan van Huysum (1682–1749), although the consignor of individual lots is not specified. The work is described as “Een doode Haan en Haas en verder bywerk, kunstig geschilderd door van Aalst, h 2v. 7 en een half d., br. 2 v. 3 d., in een zwarte Lyst met een verguld binnen Lysje. 18-10,” and Paul writes that the NGA painting is the only Van Aelst to her knowledge that depicts both a rooster and a hare. See Gerard Hoet, Catalogus van schilderyen, reprint, Soest, 1976: 268–269. [2]

[2] J.W. von Moltke, ed. Dutch and Flemish Old Masters in the Collection of Dr. C.J.K. van Aalst. Huis-te-Hoevelaken, Holland, foreword by W.R. Valentiner, Verona, 1939: 50, pl. 11.

Exhibition History

1997
Rembrandt and the Golden Age: Dutch Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, 1997, unnumbered brochure.
2002
Deceptions and Illusions: Five Centuries of Trompe L'Oeil Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2002-2003, not in catalogue.
2012
Elegance and Refinement: The Still Life Paintings of Willem van Aelst, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Ntaional Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2012, no. 15, repro.

Bibliography

1936
Moltke, J. W. von. Dutch and Flemish Old Masters in the Collection of Dr. C. F. K. van Aalst. Huiste-Hoevelaken Holland. Foreword by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Verona, 1936.
1984
Sullivan, Scott A. The Dutch Gamepiece. Montclair, 1984.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 306, no. 405, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 17, repro.
1988
Grimm, Claus. Stilleben: die niederländischen und deutschen Meister. Stuttgart, 1988.
1992
National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 134, repro.
1995
Wheelock, Jr., Arthur K. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1995: 3-4, color repro. 2.

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