Still Life with a Hanging Turkey and Small Birds in a Landscape
c. 1700
About this artwork
This North Italian oil painting features a large turkey hung by its feet from a tree branch above a collection of songbirds arranged on a wooden perch and the ground. The composition exemplifies the 17th and 18th-century European tradition of 'game pieces' or still lifes depicting hunted wildlife.
Did you know?
Still lifes of game were highly prized in Northern Italy during the turn of the 18th century as symbols of a patron's landed estate and hunting rights. The dramatic, vertical hanging of the turkey against a dark, atmospheric backdrop was a common trope meant to highlight the textures of plumage and the virtuosity of the painter's brushwork.
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Still Life with a Hanging Turkey and Small Birds in a Landscape
Unidentified painter, c. 1700
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