Wild Birds

Painting from the collection of the Potocki family, former owners of the Łańcut Castle, depicts dead birds laid out in a clearing on the grass, with a forest in the background. The light falls from the left side of the painting. The colour scheme is dark, with a predominance of browns, olive greens and greys, the dead bodies of birds are accents that brighten the composition. The painting dates from the 17th century and is attributed to Pieter Boel (born in 1622 in Antwerp, died in September 1674 in Paris). He was a Flemish Baroque painter fascinated by animals (including dead, hunted animals) and still lifes. He also painted landscapes. Boel came from a family associated with the arts – his father and brother were engravers. He was first taught by his father, then by Jan Fijt, a well-known painter of landscapes and animals. He travelled to Italy and is known to have visited Genoa and Rome. On his return to Antwerp, he was admitted to the Guild of Saint Luke. After 1668 he moved to Paris and was employed as a painter and tapestry maker at the court of Louis XIV. Most of his works are undated, not all of them are signed, which is why it happened that his paintings were attributed to Jan Fijt. His merit and achievement was that when painting animals, he did not use stuffed models, but observed them in nature (often in the Versailles menagerie). He achieved his greatest mastery in painting birds, especially their plumage, which we can admire at the painting kept in Łańcut. The painting in a richly decorated gilded frame is exhibited in the Dining Room above the Gate on the first floor of the castle.