Plate 56: Barn Owls with a Mouse, Eagle Owl(?) and Another Owl c. 1575 - 1580

Joris Hoefnagel made this watercolor and gouache painting called 'Barn Owls with a Mouse, Eagle Owl(?) and Another Owl' some time before 1600. The composition is striking. Hoefnagel arranges the owls on a wooden structure within an oval frame, creating a contained, almost theatrical space. Note how the artist meticulously renders each feather. The texture is palpable, contrasting with the smooth surface of the paper. Light and shadow define the forms, giving them a three-dimensional presence, yet the overall effect remains flattened, decorative. Consider the choice of colors. The muted browns and grays of the owls are punctuated by the vibrant green of the foliage, drawing our eye to the upper right corner. This combination of naturalistic detail and stylized composition aligns with the Mannerist aesthetic, a period defined by its embrace of artifice and ambiguity. Hoefnagel is challenging our assumptions about representation, creating a world that is both familiar and strange, realistic and stylized.