The PARROT 't Cierlijk schoon van haare veeren* - *the decorative beauty of its plumage - kmska
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The Golden Cabinet presents
The PARROT
‘t Cierlijk schoon van haare veeren*
*the decorative beauty of its plumage
EXHIBITION
ROCKOX HOUSE
08.11.2014 – 22.02.2015
V I S I T O R ’ S G U I D EWith thanks to: Smidt van Gelder Collection (MAS), Antwerp Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience, Antwerp Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp MAS, Antwerp Mayer van den Bergh Museum, Antwerp Plantin-Moretus Museum/Print Room, Antwerp, UNESCO World Heritage Site Private collection, Antwerp Rockox House, Antwerp Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België/Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, Brussels Cultura Fonds, Dilbeek Broel Museum, Kortrijk Stedelijke Musea, Mechelen Emmanuel Tack, President of the Belgian Parakeet and Parrot Fanciers’ Association Responsible publishers: Nicolaas Rockox Museum, Keizerstraat 12, 2000 Antwerp and KMSKA, Lange Kievitstraat 111-113 Box 100, 2018 Antwerp
The Golden Cabinet presents
The PARROT
‘t Cierlijk schoon van haare veeren*
*The decorative beauty of its plumage
0 8 .11. 2 014 – 2 2 . 0 2 . 2 015Credits This exhibition was organized to mark the restoration of Rubens’s Holy Family with a Parrot. Restoration: Eva van Zuilen Art-historical support: Nico Van Hout Exhibition concept Hildegard Van de Velde Visitor guide texts Hildegard Van de Velde Copy editor Luc Philippe Translation Ted Alkins Design Anne Van den Berghe Print coordinator Eddy Moyaers Coordination and communication Bert Peeters, Patrick Wuytack, Nico Van Hout, Veerle De Meester, Vik Leyten, Véronique Van Passel, An Sysmans and Babette Cooijmans Tablet app Wenke Mast Logistical support Facility Services KBC Patrik Wuytack Cover image Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Holy Family with a Parrot (detail) © KMSKA, photograph Rik Klein Gotink www.kmska.be www.rockoxhuis.be www.hetguldencabinet.be
Introduction The Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten and the Rockox House Museum in Antwerp are staging the exhibition ‘The Golden Cabinet: Royal Museum at Rockox’ until the end of 2016. Throughout that period, the former home of burgomaster and patron of the arts Nicolaas Rockox (1560–1640) has been configured as a sumptuous private art gal- lery, featuring masterpieces from the Koninklijk Museum and key works from the Rockox House itself. A series of small, theme exhibitions is being held as part of this overall pro- ject, the third of which is devoted to the parrot as an eye-catching motif in sixteenth and seventeenth-century art. Rubens’s Holy Family with a Parrot (KMSKA) is an extraordinary work. The recent removal of old layers of varnish and retouching has restored the painting’s original radiance, enabling it to testify even more clearly to the brilliance of Rubens’s talent. The Holy Family has been given a place of honour in the Golden Cabinet, where it adorns the red art gallery, along with two other recently restored large works. Jordaens’s As the Old Sing, So the Young Pipe (KMSKA) hangs with renewed freshness above the fireplace, with Maerten de Vos’s The Tribunal of the Brabant Mint in Antwerp (Rockox House) on the wall opposite. Justitia – the personification of justice – once again dominates De Vos’s painting, the tactility of which has likewise been revealed from beneath a thick layer of yellowed varnish. To mark the display of these restored glories, we are focusing in the Rockox House’s exhibi- tion space on the representation of parrots in art from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. Parrots have been popular pets since classical antiquity. Their plumage is a feast for the eye, but their vocal talents are even more amazing. While parrots were rarely the centre of attention in Renaissance and Baroque paintings, they were often included because of their symbolic significance. The parrot in Rubens’s painting alludes to Mary’s virginity – a reference already found in Martin Schongauer in the fifteenth century. Schongauer’s slightly younger compatriot, Albrecht Dürer, has a parrot accompany Adam and Eve at the Tree of Life. The bird averts its gaze from the young couple so that it does not have to witness their Fall – hence the parrot’s reputation for wisdom. It appears quite often in depictions of the Garden of Eden, not least in the work of the animal painter Roelandt Savery from Kortrijk. Savery was court painter to Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, giving him ample opportunity to study the animals in his patron’s famous zoological garden and aviaries. He painted other biblical scenes too in which parrots play a role, including the story of Noah’s Ark. Parrots feature in mythological scenes as well: Orpheus, for instance, was repeatedly shown charming them with the music of his lute or lyre. In the seventeenth century, meanwhile, parrots were given a prominent role in ironic, metaphorical ‘concerts of birds’, fine examples of which by Paul de Vos and Jan Fijt are included in the Golden Cabinet. Frans Francken II regularly included pairs of parrots in his images of prominent individuals with their private art collections. Painters like 1
THE PArrot | ‘ t C i e r l i j k s c h o o n v a n h a a r e v e e r e n
Peeter Boel liked to incorporate parrots in their still lifes to animate an otherwise ‘dead’
composition, to glorify the diversity of nature or to symbolize luxury. A parrot featured
in a portrait as a pet highlights the subject’s status, but can also be read as a symbol of
marriage.
Europeans’ ‘discovery’ of the New World led to heightened interest in zoology and botany,
and to the publication of books on nature, which introduced their readers to exotic if not
downright outlandish animals. The Italian scientist Ulisse Aldrovandi included illustrations of
parrots in his Ornitologiae, while the Antwerp engraver Adriaen Collaert also brought them
to glorious life in his Avium vivae icones. The Bruges engraver Marcus Gheeraerts illustrated
Vondel’s Vorsteliicke warande der dieren (‘Royal Animal Garden’), in which parrots are
among the beasts featured in the various animal fables. Engravings like this were seized
on as a source for tile-makers, who frequently used the parrot motif. Humanist authors
like Jacob Cats incorporated parrots in their proverbs and emblems. Hendrik Graauwhart,
for instance, called the parrot a snapperd or chatterbox: ‘The sweet chatter of the parrot
and the decorative beauty of its plumage... the wise man hates a chatterbox, who under-
stands but little’.
2Parrots in still lifes
Innovative, secular themes developed in the early Renaissance, alongside the religious subjects and
portraits that had dominated the visual arts in the Middle Ages. In this way, non-religious themes
gradually came to the fore. The still life genre developed toward the end of the sixteenth century from
kitchen and market scenes. Parrots often feature in showpieces and vanitas still lifes as a symbol of
luxury on the one hand, and as a living element among the ‘dead’ material on the other.
1. Peeter Boel (1622-1674)
Still Life with Game, a Parrot, a Dog, a Monkey and Fruit
oil on canvas, late 1650s
Antwerp, Rockox House, inv. 141
Boel was born into a family of artists: his father and brother were engravers. According
to some sources, Boel was a pupil of Frans Snyders (1579–1657). He was certainly influ-
enced by that great master, but it seems more likely that Boel trained under Joannes Fyt
(1611–1661). He also collaborated with Erasmus Quellinus II and Jacob Jordaens, whose
contribution to his paintings included human figures. Boel chiefly painted hunting, floral,
animal and vanitas still lifes.
He travelled to Italy in the 1640s, where he spent time in Genoa and Rome, making the
acquaintance of the Genoese painter Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609–1664) and
the still-life painter Giuseppe Recco (1634–1695). He learned from these artists how to
dramatize his canvases by emphasizing the shadow areas. Red drapery in the background
– the Baroque element par excellence – also heightens the atmosphere. This oil painting by
Boel is undoubtedly an attractive vanitas scene. The idea of transience is expressed by the
dead animals in the painting, the most striking of which are the peacock and the swan. The
fine copperware, Nuremberg ceremonial dish and pitcher – laid out carelessly rather than
shown to their best effect – also contribute to the sense of time passing, while the split fruit
is likewise an Italian vanitas symbol. The still-life element contrasts sharply with the three
living creatures in the painting: a parrot, a dog and a monkey. The parrot – an intelligent
creature and a good talker – comes from the Amazon region of South America. It gazes
at the fruit with its beak open, its chatter contrasting with the silent still life. Parrots were
expensive possessions too – their inclusion in still lifes is frequently intended to stress the
display of luxury.
3THE PArrot | ‘ t C i e r l i j k s c h o o n v a n h a a r e v e e r e n
2. Jan Davidsz. de Heem (1606 – c. 1683)
Fruit Still Life with Scarlet Macaw
oil on wood, signed, 1628
private collection, inv. P080
(Thank you to Maarten Bassens for the information.)
Jan Davidsz. de Heem probably trained under the Utrecht floral still-life painter Balthasar van
der Ast (c. 1593–1657). De Heem settled some time between 1631 and 1636 in Antwerp,
where quite a few noteworthy still-life painters were active, including Daniel Seghers, Frans
Snyders, Adriaen van Utrecht, Osias Beert, Jan van Kessel and Peeter Boel.
His early work, of which this still life is an example, is still indebted to van der Ast. De Heem
presents Wanli bowls, filled with fruit, in almost precisely the same manner, and the way
the dish is angled in a bowl had likewise already been done by van der Ast. The Chinese
crockery does not yet display the abundance of De Heem’s later works, but the subtly
painted porcelain is highly tactile and luxurious. The scarlet macaw (Ara macao) looks on
approvingly. The parrot serves here as a perfect emblem of luxury.
4Portraits
Beginning in the seventeenth century, portraits steadily evolved toward a more natural representation
of the sitter. Parrots began to appear in these works too. In the case of children’s portraits (of which
there are none in this exhibition), they are an allusion to education, whereas in portraits of adults,
they can be a symbol of marital fidelity or simply an indication of the sitter’s status.
3. Jacques Jordaens (1593-1678)
Fruit Seller
oil on canvas
Antwerp, KMSKA, inv. 5049
The Antwerp Baroque artist Jacob Jordaens produced a large number of mythological and
religious paintings, tapestry designs, and over four hundred drawings.
He probably painted this fruit seller around 1645, in collaboration with his studio assis-
tants, after a similar painting, now in Glasgow. The girl, who carries a basket of grapes
(baskets of fruit were an allusion to fertility), looks out of the painting at the viewer. She
stands before an open window in a Baroque architectural setting decorated with pilasters,
festoons, volutes and a cartouche. On the left we make out a satyr – a symbol of lust and
delight – and on the other side what is probably a nymph – a frequent target of the satyr’s
attempts at seduction. Through the window we see a pair of lovers over a burning candle,
which creates an attractive chiaroscuro effect. The woman closely resembles the fruit seller.
A parrot – another blue-and-yellow macaw – stands on a perch behind the girl, and may be
interpreted in this context as a symbol of lust. Or perhaps the girl is not the woman in the
window at all, and she and the parrot are merely poor imitations.
Parrots
Parrots belong to the order Psittaciformes, which is made up of New Zealand parrots
(Strigopidae) on the one hand, and ‘true’ parrots (Psittacidae) and cockatoos (Cacatouidae)
on the other. The Psittacidae include vasa parrots (Coracopsis) from Madagascar,
parakeet species (Psittacula) from Asia, small, brightly coloured parrots from Australasia
(lories), macaws from South America, and the African Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus)
from Equatorial Africa.
5THE PArrot | ‘ t C i e r l i j k s c h o o n v a n h a a r e v e e r e n
4. Jacques Jordaens (1593-1678)
Portrait of a Man with a Parrot,
signed, dated 1656
oil on canvas
private collection, inv. P046
This painting is considered a late work by Jordaens. Although his career would stretch for
a further twenty years, he had already passed his peak. He nevertheless continued to work
until an advanced age, relying increasingly on his studio assistants. Jordaens did not paint
many portraits, but he was by no means inexperienced in that genre. The family group
portraits from his early period are of very high quality.
We do not know the young man’s identity, but his splendid clothes suggest that he
belonged to the wealthy urban elite. He is wearing a large jabot collar, fastened by laces
ending in a tassel. Copious displays of linen came back into fashion around 1650, as we also
see from the way his cuffs spill out around his wrists. Only a lace-trimmed collar could have
been more luxurious. The gloves that the young man holds in his left hand are a further
statement of his wealthy status. It is possible that the portrait had a companion piece with
a half-length portrait of a woman. If so, the two paintings together would have announced
a betrothal, making the parrot a symbol of love, although such birds were normally included
in the woman’s portrait in pairs of this kind. The young man might also have commissioned
the portrait as a reference to his personal status, in which case the expensive, exotic bird
would have emphasized his pedigree and social position. The parrot is hard to identify, but
seems most to resemble an extinct variety of macaw – the Guadeloupe or Cuban macaw. It
might equally have sprouted, however, from the artist’s imagination. The blue-green patch
at the top of the bird’s head in particular is not known in any living or extinct species.
6The parrot in the Bible
Western painting in the Middle Ages continued to focus almost exclusively on religious themes.
Although this subject matter remained dominant in the Renaissance and Baroque eras, painters
around the beginning of the sixteenth century began to allow themselves more freedom in their
treatment of biblical stories. The Bible was still the means, but landscape painting gradually became
the end. The interest in nature, flora and fauna, and new scientific publications contributed to this
new turn in the visual arts. Themes like the Garden of Eden lent themselves perfectly to experiments
with magnificent landscapes that would ultimately come to overshadow the biblical subject.
The parrot in the Old Testament
5. Jan van Kessel I (1626-1679)
Noah’s Ark
oil on canvas
Antwerp, KMSKA, inv. 5019
Van Kessel, an artist active in Antwerp, was a pupil of the landscape painter Jan Brueghel II
(1568–1625) and the animal painter Simon de Vos (1603–1676). He painted still lifes with
animals – especially insects – but also with flowers. Van Kessel produced paintings with
mythological and biblical subjects too.
The story of Noah’s Ark is told in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. God orders Noah to
build a ship in which his family and animals of all kinds will be able to survive the Flood.
Noah did as he was told, loading up his ark with pairs of animals and birds – a male and a
female of each species. In the background of this painting, we see the animals entering the
ark, while a variety of others wait their turn in the foreground. Many birds are depicted in
the air, although not all of them can be identified. Some are merely suggested. There might
well be a pair of parrots in there somewhere, as they were among the chosen species. The
parrot can be recognized in flight from its long tail.
7THE PArrot | ‘ t C i e r l i j k s c h o o n v a n h a a r e v e e r e n
6. Roelandt Savery (1576-1639)
After the Deluge
oil on wood, signed, c. 1620
Kortrijk, Broel Museum, inv. 1017
An idyllic landscape is divided in two by a river. Roman ruins on the right bank have seem-
ingly been overrun by nature, symbolizing decay on the one hand, and the power of nature
on the other. This eye-catching emblem of transience somewhat disturbs the tranquillity
of this desolate landscape. Meanwhile, an invisible diagonal runs from upper left to lower
right, with two parrots as a focus at the visual centre: a blue-and-yellow macaw (Ara ara-
rauna) and a scarlet macaw (Ara macao), with the same two parrots again at the terminus
lower right. We see mainly birds to the right of the diagonal, and to the left a number of
land animals. Some of the animals are shown in pairs, referring to the story of Noah’s Ark,
although there is no longer any trace of the vessel itself.
Roelandt Savery (1567-1639)
Roelandt Savery, born in Kortrijk, travelled to the imperial court of Rudolf II in Prague
in the autumn of 1603 or spring of 1604. It is not known what took him there, nor what
position he enjoyed at the court. His drawings nevertheless give us an insight into his
activities in Central Europe and the Tyrol, which he most likely visited at Rudolf II’s
behest. Various authors have suggested that Savery entered Rudolf II’s service, and he is
also mentioned in the posthumous inventory of the emperor’s estate. Savery is described
in the imperial archives, moreover, as a ‘chamber painter’, meaning that he was admitted
as an artist to Rudolf II’s private quarters. He remained in Prague until 1612/13. Following
Rudolf’s death in 1612, Savery worked for the new emperor, Matthias. His presence in
Prague did not go unnoticed: Savery created the genre of bird paintings, and was one of
the first to produce floral still lifes. Rudolf II praised the influence of Pieter Bruegel in his
work. Savery’s time in Prague earned him an international reputation.
87. Johannes Wiericx (c. 1549 – after 1615)
after Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
Adam and Eve
copper engraving, 1565
Brussels, Koninklijke Bibliotheek/Bibliothèque royale, inv. S I 37976
Albrecht Dürer was a German painter, engraver and humanist. He toured the Low
Countries, where he was inspired by the Flemish Primitives, and Italy, where he enthusiasti-
cally embraced the Renaissance. Dürer had an excellent eye for detail and a fascination for
nature. His printmaking – especially his woodcuts – were world famous too, evolving in
parallel with the art of book-printing. Johannes Wiericx and his brothers Hieronymus and
Antoon came from a famous family of extremely talented engravers. They produced book
illustrations for Christophe Plantin, many of them based on prints after Dürer.
According to the margin with the signature, Joannes Wiericx was just sixteen when he
made this engraving after Dürer’s 1504 original. The focus is firmly on the principal figures,
Adam and Eve, who are depicted symmetrically in a contrapposto stance. A variety of
animals feature in the engraving, including a serpent and a parrot. These two animals are
the most striking, and form a deliberate contrast. The serpent offering Eve the apple is a
symbol of sin, while the parrot, which averts its eyes from that same sin, stands for the
Virgin Mary and for wisdom. Dürer’s original engraving encouraged a great many artists to
include animals in their works.
8. Roelandt Savery (1576-1639)
Garden of Eden
oil on wood, 1622
Antwerp, KMSKA, inv. 5088
The emphasis in Savery’s painting – unlike Dürer’s iconography – is on the idyllic landscape.
The Tree of Knowledge, under whose branches Adam and Eve give themselves up to sin,
is placed firmly at the visual centre of the painting. The Garden of Eden serves here as a
pretext for painting a vast landscape, populated mainly with animals. Savery was able to
improvise to his heart’s content, depicting as many living creatures – beasts of the land,
water and air – as he could. Once again, an invisible diagonal runs from upper left to lower
right, where the viewer’s eye is drawn to a pair of scarlet macaws.
9THE PArrot | ‘ t C i e r l i j k s c h o o n v a n h a a r e v e e r e n
9. Roelant Savery (1567-1639)
Birds’ Paradise
oil on wood, signed, c. 1616
Antwerp, KMSKA, inv. 5051
The birds are shown in a forbidding, mountainous landscape, with a ruined tower in the
right background. They are mostly depicted in pairs, and almost all of them in profile.
Native species mingle with exotic varieties. A salmon-crested cockatoo (Cacatua moluc-
censis) perches high up in a tree, its crest standing up and its head turned in agitation and
fear towards an eagle on the same branch who regards it menacingly. The composition and
depicted animals also appear in other paintings.
This work once belonged to the collection of Adolf Hitler, who wanted to found a museum
in his native town of Linz, which would feature work by German and Romantic artists. His
adviser, Hans Posse, suggested that he also include Netherlandish and Italian old masters.
The fantasy element of this work will certainly have appealed to the Führer as, perhaps, will
the eagle – the symbol of Germany.
The parrot in the New Testament
10. Martin Schongauer (c. 1445 – 1491)
Virgin and Child with a Parrot
copper engraving, second state, signed lower centre M+S, c. 1480 – 1485?
Brussels, Koninklijke Bibliotheek/Bibliothèque royale, inv. S II 2380
Schongauer was a German printmaker and painter, whose paintings and early engravings
were inspired by Rogier van der Weyden and Dirk Bouts. He was very skilled at translating
the pictorial elements of paintings into engraved lines and was also a major influence on
Albrecht Dürer.
Mary stands behind a parapet, holding the Christ Child, sitting on a cushion, with her left
hand, and leafing through a Bible with her right. Behind her to the left is the suggestion of
a landscape. The Bible is a prefiguration of the life of the still very young Jesus, on whose
left hand we see a parrot. The bird is an allusion to the Bible and the Word of God, but is
also a Marian symbol referring to the Immaculate Conception. The fig grasped in the child’s
other hand is a prefiguration of the Passion and a reference to the Fall on the one hand, and
a symbol of Mary’s fertility on the other. The Original Sin of Adam and Eve was redeemed
by the birth of Christ.
10EXHIBITED IN ‘THE GOLDEN CABINET’
11. Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
Holy Family with a Parrot
oil on wood, 1614
Antwerp, KMSKA, inv. 312 (© KMSKA, photograph: Rik Klein Gotink)
Restored with the support of the Inbev-Baillet Latour Fund.
This painting was originally smaller, featuring only the Virgin Mary, the Christ Child
and the crib. Rubens probably enlarged it on the left in 1633 when he presented
it to the Guild of St Luke in gratitude for his appointment that year as the dean of
the painters’ corporation. He added the parrot, vines, landscape and the figure
of St Joseph to the painting some time around 1630 – a dating based on stylistic
grounds. The painting was further enlarged over its full width at both the top and
the bottom after Rubens’s death.
A variety of symbolic elements can once again be found. The Christ Child holds an
apple in his right hand, referring to the Fall of Adam and Eve. The grapevine and
the parrot are symbols of Mary’s role as intercessor and of the virgin birth. The
parrot is a blue-and-yellow macaw (Ara ararauna).
12. (Attributed to) Michel Lasne (1590-1667)
after Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
published by Erasmus Quellinus
Holy Family with a Parrot
engraving 1617
Antwerp, KMSKA, inv. 10213
Lasne was a French copper engraver who worked briefly for Rubens. This engraving refers
to the original composition, in which Rubens only painted Mary, the Christ Child and crib,
with architectural elements in the background.
11THE PArrot | ‘ t C i e r l i j k s c h o o n v a n h a a r e v e e r e n
The blue-and-yellow macaw (Ara ararauna)
The most popular of the parrots featured here is found mainly in the humid tropical and
subtropical regions of South America, where it feeds in the treetops on nuts, fruit, bark
and nectar. The parrot uses its strong black beak to crack even the toughest nuts. It is
known to be a very faithful bird, mating for life. If kept in captivity, the blue-and-yellow
macaw requires a great deal of attention and intellectual stimulation.
13. Schelte à Bolswert (1586-1659)
after Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
Holy Family with a Parrot
engraving
Antwerp, KMSKA, inv. 10229
This copper engraver likewise worked briefly for Rubens. His print is based on the enlarged
composition and was engraved in reverse. Mary’s face differs from the one in Rubens’s
version.
14. Anonymous draughtsman
after Willem Panneels (c. 1600 – c. 1634)
Study of a Parrot
drawing, eighteenth century
Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus Museum/Print Room, UNESCO World Heritage Site
inv. PK.OT.02371 | D.12.7.b
Panneels started working for Rubens around 1624/25 and went on to produce many copies
after his work as part of his training. Rubens left on a diplomatic mission to Spain in 1628,
during which time Panneels kept an eye on Rubens’s house and studio. This gave him access
to his master’s archives, enabling him to copy to his heart’s content.
This drawing of a parrot is probably an eighteenth-century copy after the largest parrot in
Panneels’s original drawing in black and red chalk, which shows two parrots, a parakeet
in flight and a monkey. The other parrot, the parakeet and the monkey can be found in
Rubens’s painting Three Nymphs Filling the Horn of Plenty.
12The parrot in mythology
Mythological scenes, like biblical ones, gave artists the perfect opportunity to paint animals. Around
1600, for instance, the story of Orpheus from Ovid’s Metamorphoses became immensely popular at
European royal courts. It is not always necessary in these cases to look for a symbolic meaning behind
the inclusion of parrots – they are attractive, exotic birds, which make for striking visual motifs.
15. Roelandt Savery (1576-1639)
Orpheus Charming the Animals
oil on wood, signed, c. 1617
Antwerp, KMSKA, inv. 5013
It takes a moment to locate the mythical poet and singer Orpheus, who charms the wild
beasts with the sound of his lyre. It is not surprising that Savery should have chosen this
theme: the story of Orpheus gave him the perfect opportunity to show off his thorough
knowledge of animals. The artist did not take too much account, however, of the natural
habitat in which the animals in question actually live. The foreground contains a river with
waterfowl: the two swans who look straight at one another draw our attention at first,
before leading the eye via an invisible diagonal to Orpheus, who strums his lyre beneath a
large oak tree. Most of the animals look in his direction and the birds flock to him. Apart,
that is, from the two parrots at the front, who form a beautiful and colourful distraction.
Here too, Savery has chosen to depict the blue-and-yellow macaw (Ara ararauna) and scar-
let macaw (Ara macao). There are no ruins in this image, but there is a waterfall – a frequent
motif in Savery’s landscapes, where they form a dynamic element in a static environment.
Savery first painted this theme during his time at court in Prague, with Orpheus referring to
Savery’s employer, Emperor Rudolf, who was a great patron of he arts.
16. Roelandt Savery (1576-1639)
Poultry
oil on wood, signed, c. 1618
Antwerp, KMSKA, inv. 866
The focus in this painting is entirely on the strange congregation of birds, many of them in
pairs, around the robust oak. Savery is once again at the peak of his skill. A scarlet macaw
(Ara macao) perches, looking backwards, on a branch above a view of the landscape in the
distance. A blue-and-yellow macaw (Ara ararauna) is shown a little higher. The waterfowl at
the front are accompanied by a seal, possibly painted by Roelandt’s nephew Hans Savery II.
13THE PArrot | ‘ t C i e r l i j k s c h o o n v a n h a a r e v e e r e n
As with the previous work, it is not immediately obvious where to find the mythological
story. A tragic event is in fact unfolding in the background glimpsed between the vegeta-
tion, where Orpheus is being killed by the Maenads. These Thracian women, followers of
Dionysus, were infuriated by the grieving Orpheus’s lack of interest in women following the
death of his beloved Eurydice.
Rudolf II (1552-1612)
The Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II was Archduke of Austria (as Rudolf V, 1576-1608). He
made Prague the capital of the empire, sparking a brief but impressive golden age for the
city, which it would never quite equal in later centuries. Rudolf II was known as a great
lover of art, science and music. He owned famous collections of paintings and sculpture,
and natural and manmade curiosities, together with animal gardens and aviaries. The
lions’ den, located next to the castle, also housed leopards, cheetahs and a bear. An aviary
was installed nearby in 1593, along with a pheasant garden and a lake stocked with exotic
fish. Rudolf had a separate aviary built for his parrots – ‘pour l’oiseau Indien’ – in 1601.
The Star Summer Palace, which Duke Ferdinand II of Tyrol, governor of Bohemia, ordered
built in 1555/56, also had a zoological garden and a hunting park with deer, stags, hares
and wild boar. The old Bubenec animal garden, dating back to the fourteenth century, was
linked to the palace by an avenue of lime trees. Its most noteworthy residents included
buffalo, bison and Asian sheep. The emperor and his entourage would ride down the
avenue to view and hunt the animals. There were stables at the castle for Rudolf II’s
favourite horses, of which he reportedly had seventy. We know from the ‘Bestiary’ – the
painted inventory of Rudolf II’s collection of animals and natural curiosities – that the
emperor had a penchant not only for living animals, but also for stuffed ones (including
parrots) in his cabinet of curiosities. They were painted by a number of artists, including
Joris Hoefnagel and Roelandt Savery. The Bestiary is a two-volume codex, comprising 180
gouache paintings on parchment, now in the Austrian National Library in Vienna.
1417. Adriaen Collaert (c. 1560 – 1618)
after Adam van Noort (1562-1641)
Orpheus Charming the Animals
engraving
Brussels, Koninklijke Bibliotheek/Bibliothèque royale, inv. S I 828
Adam van Noort, best known as the teacher of Rubens and Jordaens, mainly painted por-
traits and historical themes. Adriaen Collaert was an engraver who went to Italy to perfect
his skills. He worked for a variety of artists, including Maarten de Vos and Philips Galle, and
for the printer-publisher Plantin-Moretus.
Orpheus sits against a tree, playing his lyre. The animals gather around to listen. A parrot
perches in one of the trees behind him, while another flies closer. In the background we
see women playing music and the Bacchae, who will kill Orpheus. The verse in praise of
Orpheus added beneath the print is by the writer Cornelis Kiliaan (c. 1530–1607).
15THE PArrot | ‘ t C i e r l i j k s c h o o n v a n h a a r e v e e r e n
Science
European adventurers travelled to distant lands in the fifteenth century, with the Portuguese taking
the lead. The Portuguese prince, Henry the Navigator, explored the coasts of Africa in the early part
of the century, while towards its end, Vasco da Gama became the first European to voyage to India.
Other explorers, including Christopher Columbus from Genoa and John Cabot from Venice, set sail
across the Atlantic Ocean. Trade agreements were signed in the sixteenth century between European
outposts in the East Indies and China, the Moluccas and Japan, around the same time as large
swathes of the Americas were being conquered by the Spanish. The ‘discovery’ of new continents
introduced Europeans to different forms of nature, with exotic flora and fauna. It became fashionable
to collect natural curiosities, with fossils, seashells, coral and stuffed animals all displayed in luxurious
cabinets. Exotic animals and birds were also brought from distant lands to live in menageries and
aviaries. Scientists gained new knowledge, which they compiled in treatises and encyclopaedias.
Conrad Gessner (1516–1565) and Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522–1605) were among the most important
of these figures in the sixteenth century. Some artists, including the engraver Adriaen Collaert
(c. 1560–1618) and the draughtsman Marcus Gheeraerts (c. 1520–c. 1590), began to specialize in the
depiction of animals.
1618. Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605)
Ornitologiae, hoc est de avibus historiae, Libri XI
Bologna, printed by Giovanni Battista Bellagamba for Franciscus de Franciscis, 1599–1603
Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus Museum/Print Room, UNESCO World Heritage Site
inv. B 333 I III
Aldrovandi studied medicine at the university in his native Bologna, where he was later
appointed professor of philosophy and natural history. The university created a botanical
garden on his initiative, and he also assembled a famous collection of natural history objects.
This encyclopaedia is considered to be the last in the Renaissance tradition: comprehensive,
but not terribly systematic, and with considerable interest in curiosities. In the course of
his career, Aldrovandi published three books on birds and one on insects, both of which
continued to be expanded after his death.
The book is open at a page showing two parrots – Psittacus cinereus and Psittacus eritro-
leucos. Both varieties are now extinct, but continued to be recorded until the eighteenth
century, including in John Hill’s A General Natural History Or New and Accurate Description
of the Animals ... London, Osborne, 1748-1752. According to Hill’s description, the parrots
had largely grey plumage with red flashes on the wings and body, and were related to
Psittacus erithacus, the African grey parrot.
19. Adriaen Collaert (ca. 1560-1618)
Avivum Vivae Icones
Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus Museum/Print Room, UNESCO World Heritage Site
inv. R 220
Around 1597, the celebrated Antwerp engraver Adriaen Collaert (c. 1560 – 1618) pub-
lished an album of quadrupeds (Animalium quadrupedum), followed shortly afterwards
by another, in collaboration with Theodoor Galle, featuring birds (Avium vivae icones) and
another devoted to fish (Piscium vivae icones).
This edition concentrates on native birds, together with a few exotic specimens. The album
is open at the page with Psitaci duplex genus – two specimens of the same African grey
parrot. One holds a cherry against its beak, the other is viewed from behind. They are
shown in an idyllic, Flemish-looking landscape: Collaert was not always strictly accurate
in the habitats in which he presented his animals and he frequently combined reality with
imagination. The African grey parrot is a tree-dwelling bird from tropical rainforests and wet
grasslands. It is a fairly intelligent species, which nowadays is found primarily in Equatorial
Africa. They are popular pets in Belgium, and can learn up to around 750 words in captivity.
17THE PArrot | ‘ t C i e r l i j k s c h o o n v a n h a a r e v e e r e n
20. Philips Galle (1537-1612)
after Marcus Gheeraerts II (c. 1520 – c. 1590)
Avium Vivae Icones. Quintino a fossa monochromatum insigni admirator
burin engraving
Brussels, Koninklijke Bibliotheek/Bibliothèque royale
inv. S IV 27294
Philips Galle was a well-known engraver and draughtsman after paintings by the likes of
Pieter Brueghel, Maarten van Heemskerck and Frans Floris. Marcus Gheeraerts owed his
reputation primarily to the magnificent prints he made for Eduard de Dene’s animal epic,
which were still appearing in books of fables two centuries later.
This print is one of an exceptional series of twelve. It shows two ostriches and their young,
two eagles, two buzzards and, on a branch on the far right, two parrots. They are sketchily
engraved, making it impossible to identify them.
21. Philips Galle (1537-1612)
after Marcus Gheeraerts II (c. 1520 – c. 1590)
Avium vivae icones. Parrots and Fabulous Beasts
burin engraving
Brussels, Koninklijke Bibliotheek/Bibliothèque Royale
inv. S IV 27305
This print comes from the same series as cat. no. 20. The middle part of the print is domi-
nated by a bird of paradise; there are two pairs of parrots in the right corner.
22. Nicolaes de Bruyn (1571-1656)
Volatilium varri generis effigies
copper engraving, 1594
Brussels, Koninklijke Bibliotheek/Bibliothèque royale
inv. S I 8172
De Bruyn was a Flemish engraver who later moved to Rotterdam. He mainly engraved
biblical themes and also produced animal prints. This one belongs to a twelve-part series
devoted to birds and insects. The hoopoe in the middle of the print steals the show with
its impressive crest. It walks straight towards two parrots, the largest of which De Bruyn
also used in the floral still lifes he engraved and most resembles an African grey. The parrot
on the higher branch looks like a macaw, although his characteristic head is not clearly
rendered.
18Allegory
The allegorical element of this exhibition consists of both the symbolic representation of abstract
concepts such as the virtues, and of emblems and personifications used to illustrate a moralizing
motto or verse. There is often an element of humour here, while parrots also lend themselves perfectly
to the depiction of all sorts of homely wisdom.
23. Philips Galle (1537-1612)
after Marcus Gheeraerts II (c. 1520 – c. 1590)
Aer
copper engraving
Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus Museum/Print Room, UNESCO World Heritage Site
inv. R 259
This print depicts Aer or air – one of the four physical elements according to a theory dating
back to the Greek philosopher Empedocles (fifth century BC). Little angels are shown blow-
ing air in the four corners of the print, while the goddess Juno, a peacock under her arm,
stands at the centre as the personification of the element. She is surrounded by a variety of
birds, including a parrot standing on a perch next to the decorative element above Juno’s
head. We make out the shape of its body, a long, protruding wing and its curved beak, but
the bird is otherwise represented too cursorily for us to identify it.
24. Adriaen Collaert (c. 1560 – 1618)
after Maerten de Vos (1531/32-1603)
The Five Senses, Tactus
copper engraving
Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus Museum/Print Room, UNESCO World Heritage Site,
nv. III/C125
Maerten de Vos was a leading Antwerp Mannerist painter. He was one of the most sought-
after artists for the altarpieces needed to restore Antwerp church interiors following the
‘Iconoclastic Fury’ of 1566.
Tactus or touch is one of the five senses, which De Vos places in a landscape that also
features biblical scenes in the background. Touch is personified by a woman leaning against
a tree, with one hand pointing toward a spider in a web. In her other hand she holds a
bird shaped like a parrot, although it is referred to in some sources as a falcon. Cesare Ripa
(c. 1560–1622) describes Touch in his famous emblem book, Iconologia, as ‘an elegant
19THE PArrot | ‘ t C i e r l i j k s c h o o n v a n h a a r e v e e r e n
young woman ... [who] holds a hooded falcon on her wrist’. Falcons are more closely related
to the parrot family and to songbirds than they are to other birds of prey. They usually have
longer tails than the bird we see depicted here. In the background to the left of Tactus, we
see Adam and Eve’s banishment from the Garden of Eden (Genesis) and the Miraculous
Draught of Fishes (Gospel of Luke).
25. Pieter de Jode I (1570-1634)
and Claes Jansz. Visscher II (1586-1652)
The Five Senses, Tactus
Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus Museum/Print Room, UNESCO World Heritage Site, inv. III/J374
Visscher had his own printing works and a shop that grew into an important art dealer’s.
The Antwerp draughtsman and engraver Pieter Jode I produced this print, which is an
allegory of temptation. Venus sits on a rock with her young son, Amor, the two of them
symbolizing love. Venus points with her right hand towards a couple of lovers. The man
strokes the little dog – a symbol of fidelity – on the woman’s lap, while a parrot pecks at
her hand.
26. Raphael Sadeler I (1560-1628)
after Joos van Winghe (1544-1603)
Stvltitiam Pativnvr opes (Allegory of Wealth, Luxury and Folly)
copper engraving, 1588
Brussels, Koninklijke Bibliotheek/Bibliothèque royale, inv. S I 14076
Raphael Sadeler I worked with his older brother Jan as an engraver for Christophe Plantin.
They moved to Germany to work after 1585, and later travelled together to Italy. Raphael
returned to Munich in the early seventeenth century. Joos van Winghe was a Brabant
Mannerist artist who, having spent time in Paris and Rome, came to Brussels to take the
position of court painter to the governor of the Low Countries, Alexander Farnese.
King Midas is depicted as the personification of greed, counting his money at a table set in a
palace. A jester, symbolizing folly, places a fool’s cap on his head. The female representative
of wealth looks in a mirror, where she sees an old woman. Another woman – with a parrot
on her arm – cools her with a fan to ingratiate herself. The parrot functions in this context
as a symbol of luxury.
2027. Cornelis Cort (1533-1578)
after Frans Floris (1519/20-1570)
Retorica. Number four in the series The Seven Liberal Arts
engraving, Antwerp, 1565
Brussels, Koninklijke Bibliotheek/Bibliothèque royale, inv. S I 11648
The Dutch engraver and draughtsman Cornelis Cort travelled to Venice in 1565/66. He
primarily worked in the Low Countries, however, where he engraved prints after the
Renaissance artists Michiel Coxcie and Frans Floris.
This print shows the personification of Retorica or rhetoric – the classical art of writing and
public speaking. She holds a caduceus – the herald’s wand carried by the god Mercury – as
a symbol of peace as she listens to an address delivered by a young man. The books on the
ground contain works by Cicero, Isocrates, Demosthenes and Quintilian, the ancient world’s
authorities on rhetoric. The two birds – a parrot and a tit – standing on them are symbols
of eloquence. The caption to the print praises the ingenuity of rhetoric.
28. Roelandt Savery (1576-1639)
Two Horses and Grooms
oil on wood, signed, 1628
Kortrijk, Broel Museum, inv. 783
Although this painting features two magnificent parrots, our attention is first drawn to the
prominently depicted horses. Also noteworthy is the fact that Savery has painted virtually
nothing by way of landscape, other than the walled fortress in the distance. Savery’s patron,
Emperor Rudolf II, was a great admirer of horses, of which he owned seventy. The white
horse with the mane reaching down to its hooves must have been one of his favourites, as
Savery regularly incorporated it in his idyllic landscapes from around 1613/14, in which it
stands out from the multitude of other animals. The white and brown horses both feature
in Rudolf II’s ‘Bestiary’. The stable boys accompanying them seem to be talking to each
other. According to the art historian Uwe Bischoff, they might be intended as a reference
to Phaedrus by the Greek philosopher and writer Plato, which recounts a dialogue between
Socrates and the eponymous Phaedrus. Socrates compares the soul to a team of winged
horses and also quotes several rhetoricians. Could the parrots in this painting be symbols of
their rhetorical skills? Or perhaps the scene is merely a reflection of Rudolf II’s extraordinary
collection of animals: not only the horses, but the parrots too. On the left we see a scarlet
macaw (Ara macao) – one of the commonest South American parrots, which Pre-Columbian
peoples used as trading gifts. The proud specimen on the right is a salmon-crested cockatoo
(Cacatua moluccensis), which owes its Latin name to the Moluccas, the only region in which
it is found. The variety is notable for its fine orange-red crest which stands out attractively
against its almost white plumage. It is a noisy bird, which can also learn to talk. Rudolf II
had owned one since the beginning of 1601. The cockatoo probably died in 1607, at which
point it was stuffed and placed in the emperor’s cabinet of curiosities.
21THE PArrot | ‘ t C i e r l i j k s c h o o n v a n h a a r e v e e r e n
29. Adriaen Collaert (c. 1560 – 1618)
after Maerten de Vos (1531/32-1603)
America
copper engraving
Brussels, Koninklijke Bibliotheek/Bibliothèque royale
inv. S I 761
This print belongs to a four-part series with personifications of the continents. The female
representation of America is shown with a bow and arrow, riding an armadillo sideways.
The left side of the print includes strange animals, such as sheep with long, woolly tails,
and goats with impossibly long ears. Behind them, we see cannibals killing and roasting a
man, while on the right, a battle is going on between Spanish conquistadores and Indians.
A parrot – most likely a macaw – perches on a branch in the lower right corner. Macaws
come primarily from Central and South America.
30. Cornelis Schut (1597-1655)
Frieze with Five Putti
engraving
Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus Museum/Print Room, UNESCO World Heritage Site
inv. III/S672
Schut was an Antwerp draughtsman, engraver and painter, and a pupil of Rubens. He
visited Italy in the 1620s, where he painted frescoes for the home of an Italian banker. Schut
also produced small-scale works with allegorical and mythological themes. This frieze with
five putti – possibly a vanitas allegory – is similar to a still life. Musical instruments like this
lute are symbols of transience, as are the book, the globe and the armillary sphere. The
caduceus represents the axis between heaven and earth. As a living creature, the parrot at
the centre of the scene contrasts sharply with the vanitas symbolism.
31. Estienne Perret (second half sixteenth century)
XXV Fables des animaux, Vray miroir exemplaire
Antwerp, Christophe Plantin, 1578
Dilbeek, Cultura Fonds, inv. 319
Estienne Perret was an Antwerp author who sought refuge in Rotterdam after the Spanish
recapture of his city in 1585.
His book is a French translation of Eduard de Dene’s De waarachtige Fabulen der Dieren,
published in Dutch in 1567, and contains twenty-four stories and an illustrated foreword.
Each story is printed on the left-hand page according to a constant pattern: first the animal
fable in sixteen alexandrines, then a moral in eight alexandrines and, lastly, a quotation from
22the Bible. The refined burin engravings are anonymous, but reflect Marcus Gheeraerts’s
designs for De Dene’s De waarachtige Fabulen der Dieren. De Dene drew in turn from
sources including the Greek fable-writer Aesop (c. 620 – 560 BC). The book is open at
the story of the fox and the raven. The fox persuades the raven to sing so that the piece
of cheese the fox wants to steal will drop out of the bird’s beak. In the next book in the
exhibition, the raven turns into a parrot ...
32. Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679)
and Marcus Gheeraerts II (c. 1520 – c. 1590)
Vorsteliicke warande der dieren... (‘Royal Animal Garden’)
Amsterdam, 1617
Antwerp, Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience, inv. C 41393
Joost van den Vondel was a Dutch poet and playwright, whose work includes satirical
poems, heroic epics and moral tales. He earned his living primarily through his family’s
hosiery business in Amsterdam.
Like Perret’s book, Vondel’s Vorsteliicke warande der dieren is based on De Dene’s
Waarachtige Fabulen der Dieren, although he structures his collection of stories differently.
The illustration appears on the left-hand page, accompanied by a motto and a historical
example, while the story itself is printed in verse on the right-hand page.
Vondel took certain poetic liberties, adapting the text as he saw fit and – as in the page
displayed in the exhibition – borrowing Gheeraerts’s drawing, but altering its title. The
raven, who was also depicted with a curved beak, now becomes a loquacious parrot.
33. Jacob Cats (1577-1660)
Alle de wercken, so ouden als nieuwen, Amsterdam
Jan Jacobz. Schipper, 1657/58
Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus Museum/Print Room, UNESCO World Heritage Site, inv. B144
Cats was a lawyer and politician, but is known primarily as a moralist and writer of proverbs.
His emblem prints depict human behaviour in a highly accessible and familiar manner. The
conduct of animals also lent itself perfectly to Cats’s moral messages and highlighting of
human virtues and vices.
Amissa libertate laetior (‘Happiness through Slavery’) is a page from Sinne- en minne
beelden, in which Cats provides each emblem with nine or more inscriptions drawn from
the Bible and from literature, adding further verses of his own. The inscriptions are printed
in three languages. Cats illustrates this particular proverb with the image of a parrot who
sings happily, despite being imprisoned in a cage. The illustration evokes the ‘sweet slavery’
of the lover: to be caged by love is a joyful thing! The biblical variation alludes to the idea
of the Christian who is only ‘free’ as God’s captive.
23THE PArrot | ‘ t C i e r l i j k s c h o o n v a n h a a r e v e e r e n
34. Southern Netherlandish?
Parrot pendant with earspoon and toothpick
gold, enamel, diamond, pearls, ruby, emerald, late sixteenth century
Antwerp, Mayer van den Bergh Museum, inv. 429
This piece of jewellery probably belonged to a wealthy woman. Adriana Perez – Nicolaas
Rockox’s wife – received a dowry from her father comprising jewellery with a total value of
5 000 florins. She too might have owned a pendant like this, which could not only be worn
on a chain but also pinned to a dress as a brooch. Parrots were viewed as monogamous and
extremely faithful birds, and so may be interpreted in this context as a symbol of married life.
35. Two parrot figurines
biscuit and enamel, 1662–1722
Antwerp, MAS, Smidt van Gelder Collection, inv. Sm 1746
Is this a pair of green Amazon parrots? Or simply decorative figurines with a generic parrot
shape? Either way, they will have decorated a well-to-do household that was surely no
stranger to subtle symbolism, in which case they might be a symbol of marital fidelity.
36. Anonymous
Parrot from the chain of a crossbowmen’s guild
silver and gold
Antwerp, fifteenth century, MAS, inv. AV 4699. 2-2
The ceremonial chain has twenty links decorated with symbols of a Guild of St George
(crossbowmen), including crossed arrows. A small Gothic shield at the bottom features
a crowned parrot, its wings spread, and a miniature crossbow and harquebus. The chain
was awarded to the winner of an annual shooting contest, who could then wear it for a
year while representing the guild. Competitions like this were popular among civic militias,
which had been organizing them since the thirteenth century to encourage their members
to hone their skills. The marksmen shot vertically at a wooden target known variously as a
‘king’, ‘bird’ or ‘parrot’, representing an enemy lurking in a tree, a cliff or some other higher
spot. For reasons of either religion or superstition, the bird-target was never given the shape
of a native species. The parrot offered an exotic and colourful alternative that was equally
eye-catching on the ceremonial chain.
24EXHIBITED IN ‘THE GOLDEN CABINET’
37. Frans Francken II (1581-1642)
Sebastiaan Leerse (?) in His Gallery
oil on wood, 1628/29
Antwerp, KMSKA, inv. 669
Francken’s painting of this private art collection includes works by or after Jan Massys,
Pieter Neefs I, Joos de Momper II, Daniel van Heil, Bonaventura Peeters I and himself.
The room in which it now hangs was once Rockox’s private gallery, the contents of which
Francken also depicted in a painting currently in the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen
in Munich.
Pairs of parrots feature in the foreground of several of Francken’s private gallery paint-
ings: the blue-and-yellow macaw (Ara ararauna) and the scarlet macaw (Ara macao). In
this context, the parrots symbolize human folly – a reproach aimed at those who do not
occupy themselves with art and science. The birds function here as a distraction: they are
noisy and their feeder is on the ground. In contrast with the beauty of the art works, they
are a source of mess and dust.
EXHIBITED IN ‘THE GOLDEN CABINET’
38. Attributed to Paul de Vos (1595-1678)
Concert of Birds
oil on canvas
Antwerp, KMSKA, inv. 428
The Antwerp animal painter Paul de Vos drew here on a composition by his brother-in-law
Frans Snyders, now in the Hermitage in St Petersburg.
Concerts of birds – often with ironic undertones – were a popular theme in the seventeenth
century. It will have been a real challenge for both Snyders and De Vos to display the best
of their skills in a theme painting like this, but the resulting work is highly accomplished
pictorially, technically and compositionally. The concert master is an owl who holds the
musical score while conducting a flock of whistling, honking and screeching forest, field
and water fowl. The colourful company also includes a number of exotic birds: a toucan,
an Amazon parrot and a scarlet macaw. The painting depicts one of Aesop’s fables, but
there is also a link with a famous proverb by the Dutch poet Jacob Cats: ‘Every bird sings
the way he knows how’.
25THE PArrot | ‘ t C i e r l i j k s c h o o n v a n h a a r e v e e r e n
EXHIBITED IN ‘THE GOLDEN CABINET’
39. Joannes Fijt (1611-1661)
Concert of Birds
oil on canvas
Antwerp, Rockox House, inv. 92.2
The renowned animal painter Joannes Fyt was a pupil of Frans Snyders.
A scarlet macaw (Ara macao) beats time with its raised claw. All the birds shown here,
with the exception of the jay, are renowned for their inability to sing: the chicken, parrot,
blue heron, cockerel, pigeon and peacock. The musical score on the tree trunk is illegible.
The birds are probably intended as a parody: they are hardly likely to attract a mate or
ward off a rival with their song.
The parrot as a decorative element
40. Two tiles decorated with parrots
earthenware with tin glaze, 1625–75
Antwerp, Rockox House
41. Tile tableau with parrot with cherry in its beak
earthenware with tin glaze, late seventeenth century
Antwerp, Rockox House
Majolica tiles were used to decorate walls in the mid-sixteenth century, and by around
1600, they were also being used to line hearths in parlours and kitchens. Expressive and
exotic animals like parrots were a favourite motif for tiles of this kind. Tile painters were hard
put to keep up with the high level of demand, and so resorted to serial production. They
sought inspiration in the new encyclopaedias, emblem books and other animal illustrations.
The colours of the depicted birds are not always very accurate, as the painters frequently
worked from engravings and had to rely on their imagination for the colours. Monochrome
tiles also began to appear on the market from 1610. Parrot tiles were a purely decorative
element in seventeenth-century middle-class interiors.
2642. Field of flowers with Amazon parrot
Mechelen gold leather, second half seventeenth century
Stedelijke Musea Mechelen, Hof van Busleyden, inv. L0070
Gold leather was introduced to the Low Countries in the early sixteenth century, although
hides were already being gilded in Cordoba as early as the ninth. Production in Mechelen
began just after 1600. Jacob Dircxz de Swart, a leatherworker in The Hague, invented a
method of stamping reliefs into gold leather in 1628. His technique produced an attractive
raised effect, also visible in this fragment. Gold leather gradually replaced tapestries as a
wallcovering for luxurious interiors.
This beautiful piece of gold leather is decorated with stylized flowers, grapes and berries.
A parrot perches at the bottom. The parrot’s exotic origins lend an exclusive allure to the
expensive material, which was used to decorate well-to-do interiors. The image of the
bird was probably based on the Amazon parrot, but it is represented too sketchily to be
identified any more accurately.
COURTYARD
Portraits
The photographs in the Rockox House courtyard show contemporary parrot owners in
the style of seventeenth-century portraits. They were taken by Filip Claessens for the
competition Flanders’ Cutest Parrot, which was held as part of the Flanders Cultural
Market event at the KBC Tower. A light-hearted way to introduce the public to the
exhibition ‘The Parrot’.
We are grateful to the Belgische Vereniging van Parkieten- en Papegaaienliefhebbers
(Belgian Parakeet and Parrot Fanciers’ Association) and to the parrot charity ’Nally’s
Papegaaien’.
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