Still Life with a Dead Swan

ca. 1651

Jan Baptist Weenix Dutch, 1621-1659

On View

Dutch Golden Age, Level 3, South Wing

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About the Artwork

This large and spectacular hunting trophy celebrates the beauty of fallen game birds of all species — a turkey, two partridges, a finch, and a majestic white swan. Their graceful wings and glossy feathers are rendered with exceptional virtuosity, while the floating white feather in the foreground adds a melancholy touch to the scene. The tacit subject of the painting is hunting, which was a strictly regulated sport that could only be practiced by a select few. Swans in particular were considered noble creatures that could only be hunted by the titled aristocracy. It is likely, therefore, that such a painting would have been destined for a large country estate. The artist, Jan Baptist Weenix, became a member of the landed gentry himself in 1657 when he acquired a manor house in the outskirts of Utrecht.

Title Still Life with a Dead Swan

Artwork Date ca. 1651

Artist Jan Baptist Weenix

Life Dates 1621-1659

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Dutch

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 72 5/8 × 73 3/4 × 4 15/16 inches (184.5 × 187.3 × 12.5 cm) Framed: 60 × 60 1/2 inches (152.4 × 153.7 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department European Painting

Credit Gift of Ralph Harman Booth

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 26.22

Markings

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Provenance

R.A. Tatton (Cuerdon Hall, Bamber Bridge, Preston, Lancashire, England);
June 16, 1925, sold by (Christie's, consigned by Agnews on behalf of the owner, London, England) auction Tatton, lot 61 [as Jan Weenix];
1925-1926, purchased by (Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, England) [for 370 guineas];
by 1926, purchased by Ralph Harman Booth;
1926-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

H.J. "A Still Life Painting by Jan Weenix." Bulletin of the DIA 7, no. 6 (1926): p. 67 (ill.). [as Jan Weenix.]

Valentiner, W.R. "Travel Notes" Bulletin of the DIA 10, no. 1 (1928): pp. 6-12 (ill.). [as Jan Baptist Weenix.]

Heil, W. Catalogue of Paintings in the Permanent Collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1930, cat. 246 (ill.).

Richardson, E.P., ed. Detroit Institute of Arts Catalogue of Paintings. Detroit, 1944, p.143, no. 246.

Stechow, W. "Jan Baptist Weenix." Art Quarterly 11, no. 3 (1948): pp. 181-199 (fig. 9).

Dutch Painting, The Golden Age. Exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art, et al. New York, 1954, cat. 89 (ill.).

Stechow, W. "Optics and opulence: a brilliant view of Dutch Painting." Art News 53, no. 7 (November 1954): pp. 18-25; 74-75 (ill.).

Ginnings, R.J. "The Art of Jan Baptist Weenix and Jan Weenix." Diss., University of Delaware, 1970, p. 113 ff.

Sullivan, S.A. "Jan Baptist Weenix. Still Life with a Dead Swan" Bulletin of the DIA 57, no. 2 (1979): pp. 64-71 (fig. 1).

Sullivan, S.A.The Dutch Gamepiece. Montclair, 1984, p. 87, note 47.

Masters of Light Dutch Painters in Utrecht during the Golden Age. Exh. cat., Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. San Francisco, 1997, pp. 367-369 (ill.).

Still-Life Paintings from the Netherlands 1550-1720. Exh. cat., Rijksmueum, et al. Amsterdam, 1999, pp. 198-200, cat. 41 (ill.).

Masters of Dutch Painting: The Detroit Institute of Arts, London, 2004, pp. 260-261.

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