JACOBUS VONK (Active Middelburg, d. 1773)
A Swan, Scarlet Ibis, Ducks, Parrot and Other Birds on a Riverbank
signed and dated on the rock in the lower center J. Vonk 1764
oil on canvas
64.57 x 37.4 inches (164 x 95 cm.)
Little biographical information is known about Jacobus Vonk other than he worked in Middelburg where his death is recorded in the books of the Middelburg guild. He is best known for his depictions of exotic and native birds in outdoor settings. He also painted flower swags surrounding garden urns with birds and at times vanitas elements. His dated work is from 1756 – 1771.[1]
Vonk was popular in his lifetime. A painting such as this would have been commissioned along with others of different types of birds to ornament an entire room.[2] The overall effect undoubtably was spectacular. Sadly, all too few works seem to have survived as in the past 50 plus years not many have appeared on the market, this being particularly true of the large compositions featuring only birds. Works by the artist are in the collections of museums in Amsterdam; Cambridge, United Kingdom; Middelburg; and Utrecht.
This canvas stems from a tradition that dates back to the seventeenth century. At that time there were quite a number of large menageries and natural history collections that documented the voyages of the Dutch fleet. Certain menageries such as those of William III and Frederick Hendrick, as well as smaller private collections owned by the wealthy merchant classes, became famous for their diversity and range of exotic birds and animals. Initiated by Melchoir de Hondecoeter in the second half of the seventeenth century, this led to a passion among the landed gentry for paintings of exotic and indigenous birds often featured on the same canvas. By the eighteenth century the brightness and fresh coloration of contemporary artists’ paintings such as Vonk matched the landed gentry’s desire for sophistication and elegance. Further such works were viewed as “a window to the outside world” and one that fused the interior with the exterior simultaneously”. [3]
Also sought after by these wealthy patrons were particular species that were distinctly decorative.[4] Here the most unusual bird is the Scarlet Ibis, unmistakable by its brilliant scarlet coloration. Remarkably it had only just been classified by the Swedish naturalist and explorer Carl Linnaeus in 1758. It is found along the northern edge of South America, Trinidad, Tobago and southern Florida. Today it has protected
[1] Biographical information taken from Adriaan van der Willigen and Fred G. Meijer, “Jacobus Vonk“ in A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still – life Painters Working in Oils, 1525 – 1725, Primavera Press, Leiden, 2003, pp. 204 – 210; and Sam Segal & Klara Alen, “Jacobus Vonk” in Dutch and Flemish Flower Pieces, volume II, Brill, Hes & De Graaf, Leiden & Boston, 2020, p. 835.
[2] Christine E. Jackson, “Jacobus Vonck” in Dictionary of Bird Artists of the World, Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1999, p. 476.
[3] Joy Kearney, “Ornithology and Collecting in the Dutch Golden Age: The Collecting of Exotica and Captured Specimens” in Collecting Nature, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2014, pp. 67, 69, 70,72.
[4] Ibid, p. 71.