Still life with animals 1690

Melchior d'Hondecoeter painted this Still Life with Animals in the Dutch Republic, sometime in the latter half of the 17th century. This isn’t just a picture of some animals, it tells a story about social order and hierarchy. The proud rooster atop the broken plinth, the watchful fox, the dead goose and the scattering chickens are all symbols of a society keenly aware of its own pecking order. Hondecoeter was well-known for his paintings of birds, and he often included exotic species in his work, reflecting the growing global trade of the Dutch Golden Age. But this painting isn't just about wealth and trade. It is also about the social structure of the Netherlands at the time. The animals represent different social classes and their interactions reflect the power dynamics of Dutch society. As art historians, our job is to dig deeper and consider the social and cultural context of these images, using sources from the period to build a fuller picture of the artist and their world.