Willem van Aelst, 'Still Life with Partridges', 1671
About the work
Overview
Van Aelst depicts suspended partridges, one of them resting on a gold-trimmed green velvet hunter’s pouch that lies on a stone ledge. A fly has just landed on the partridge’s wing, a detail that serves to heighten the still life’s illusionistic qualities. But the picture is perhaps above all an exercise in painting different textures. Van Aelst has deliberately contrasted the softness of the feathers and the smooth velvet of the pouch with the hard and shiny surfaces of the pouch’s metal frame, the hunting horn above it and the cold stone of the marble ledge underneath, making sure we can be in no doubt about his superlative skills as a painter.
In the 18th century this painting belonged to William V, Prince of Orange and the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Still Life with Partridges
- Artist
- Willem van Aelst
- Artist dates
- 1627 - 1683
- Date made
- 1671
- Medium and support
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 58.8 × 47.8 cm
- Inscription summary
- signed; dated and inscribed
- Acquisition credit
- On loan from the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague
- Inventory number
- L1281
- Location
- Room 28
- Image copyright
- On loan from the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague, © Maurtishuis, The Hague
- Collection
- Main Collection
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.