On-line gallery
- Reference number
- P01758
- Author
- Snyders, Frans (Flemish)
- Title
- Concert of the Birds
- Chronology
- 1629-1630
- Technique
- Support
- Measures
- 98 cm x 137 cm
- School
- Theme
- Shown
- No
- Entrance
- COLECCION REAL
- Procedence
- Royal Collection
Depictions of different types of
birds perched on tree trunks,
sometimes alongside a musical
score, were made popular by Flemish
artists during the early
seventeenth century, especially
Frans Snyders.
And, while these are generally
considered allusions to the sense
of hearing, that interpretation is
not entirely clear. Others include
the possibility that they represent
wisdom through the presence of an
owl, which embodies that concept
and which often seems to be
directing those bucolic
concerts.
At any rate, the diversity of bird
images makes this type of paintings
an attractive manifestation of
nature, making them collectors'
items for aristocrats and
bourgeois, who often hung them in
their country houses.
This painting, like another in the
Prado Museum Collection (P1761),
was probably donated to Felipe IV
by the Marquis of Leganés. By 1636
it was hanging in Madrid's Alcázar
Palace.
