Parakeet 1670 - 1719

This is a watercolor and graphite drawing by Jan Weenix, made sometime around the turn of the 18th century. Weenix, known for his depictions of animals, often painted grand hunting scenes featuring dead game. Here, though, he has trained his eye on a living creature: a parakeet perched on a branch. What’s interesting is the way that Weenix applied his medium. See how he coaxes out every feather with individual strokes, almost like a meticulous scribe setting down letterforms. You might even say that he's animating the bird, giving it a palpable sense of life. Consider, too, that the pigment in the watercolor would have been prepared by hand, grinding minerals and plants, mixing them carefully with a binder. The laboriousness of this process is a world away from mass production – yet Weenix was also working in a newly globalized world of trade and commerce. His parakeet would have been a rare, exotic import. Paying attention to materials and making helps us see how this artwork is not just a pretty picture, but a document of a world in transition.