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Dozens of multicolored birds of various sizes are arranged around a stout tree in this horizontal landscape painting. At least two dozen species of birds perch along the branches and crowd around the base. For example, there are birds with gold bodies, cobalt-blue wings, and hooked beaks in the upper left-hand branches. In the branches to the right a tomato-red bird with long, blue tail feathers is surrounded by small light brown and gray birds. An owl, peacock, ostrich, and turkey painted in muted browns and blues gather with other green, blue, red, and dark gray birds on the left side of the tree to look at an open book resting against the trunk. The bank with the birds is separated from a second grove of trees by the waterway, which splits near the lower right corner of the painting and winds into the distance to both the left and right. The grove across from us has slender green trees with feathery leaves among a bank of tall reeds. In the river in the lower right corner, ducks, swans, and a tall heron stand and float among lily pads. A few birds take flight while one comes in for a landing in the near distance, to our right. The sky above this area is slate blue. Ghostly touches of white along the river to our left suggest tall birds standing in the water. Beyond them, a hazy, peanut-brown field with tall trees marches into the distance under an overcast sky.

Circle of Jan van Kessel the Elder

Concert of Birds, 1660/1670

Not on View

Medium

oil on copper

Dimensions

overall: 13 x 18 cm (5 1/8 x 7 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of John Dimick

Accession Number

1983.19.4

Artists / Makers

Anonymous Artist (painter)

Jan van Kessel the Elder (related artist) Flemish, 1626 - 1679

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Provenance

(John Mitchell, London and New York), by 1956. (Leonard Koetser Ltd., London); sold June 1960 to Mrs. John Dimick, Chevy Chase, Maryland;[1] John Dimick, Chevy Chase; gift 1983 to NGA.

[1] An undated photograph in the Witt Library (fiche 12,090) identifies the painting as with John Mitchell Galleries. Peter Mitchell, of John Mitchell and Son, in response to a letter from Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., sent from their records a photograph of the painting dated May 1956 (see letter of 6 January 1983, in NGA curatorial files). A Leonard Koetser Ltd. label taken from the back of the painting references the Antique Dealers' Fair in June 1960, and the Koetser invoice for the sale to Mrs. Dimick is dated 20 June 1960 (label and copy of invoice in NGA curatorial files).

Associated Names

Dimick, John, Mr.
John Mitchell Fine Paintings
Leonard Koetser Gallery

Exhibition History

1960: Antique Dealers Fair, London, June 1960.

1995: Dutch Cabinet Galleries, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1995-1996, no cat.

1998: A Collector's Cabinet, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998, no. 31.

Bibliography

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 214, repro.

1988: Pinkston, Cynthia N. "The Cover." Journal of the American Medical Assocoiation 259 (13 May 1988): 2639, repro.

2005: Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Flemish Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2005: 126-128, color repro.