Live Auction 11977Old Master and British Paintings
Attributed to Melchior d'Hondecoeter (Utrecht 1636-1695 Amsterdam)
Lot 145

Attributed to Melchior d'Hondecoeter (Utrecht 1636-1695 Amsterdam)

A forest floor with a snake, a hoopoe and butterflies

Closed28 April 2016

Price Realised

GBP 37,500

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Attributed to Melchior d'Hondecoeter (Utrecht 1636-1695 Amsterdam)
A forest floor with a snake, a hoopoe and butterflies

oil on canvas
30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 61 cm.)
in a late 17th Century English running pattern frame

Anonymous sale; Phillips, London, 24 April 2001, lot 139.

Specialist note

We are grateful to Fred Meijer, of the RKD, The Hague, for proposing the attribution on first-hand inspection and for suggesting a possible collaboration with Abraham Begeyn (Leiden 1637-1697 Berlin) for the larger leaves. Mr Meijer notes that de Hondecoeter was known for using actual butterfly wings to transfer pigments onto his paintings and suggests this might be the case for the present lot.