Dead Duck 1685 - 1755

Count Giorgio Duranti made this drawing of a 'Dead Duck' with pen and brown ink, brush and gray wash, over black chalk around the first half of the 18th century. Depictions of dead animals were popular as studies for more complex compositions, and as independent works of art. The image presents a specific view on the natural world. In Europe at this time, the continent's elites had been hunting for pleasure for centuries. Aristocratic hunters often pursued wild game, and the spoils of the hunt would often be displayed in the home as trophies. The tradition of hunting and killing game can be seen to be both a social ritual and a performance of power. To understand this image better, we might look at hunting manuals, taxidermy collections, or even cookbooks, to see how they depict animals like this duck. The meaning of an artwork is always contingent on its social and institutional context.