A partridge and a squacco heron

One of de Gheyn’s many studies from nature, this can be compared in subject to the Studies of two suspended plucked hens in the Louvre (van Regteren Altena, op. cit., no. 882) and the Four studies of a duck in the Musée Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (van Regteren Altena, op. cit., no. 879). Van Regteren Altena suggested that the heron depicted here is the squacco heron, smaller than the common heron but equally common in the Netherlands at that period. The drawing is remarkable for the perfection of its naturalism, with brisk strokes of brown ink showing the texture of the soft ruffled feathers. The free use of black chalk to suggest shadow appears to be original, as vigorous chalk additions can be seen in other de Gheyn drawings (see lot 29 for an example). Although the studies do not seem to have been directly used in a painting, a partridge seen from a different angle appears in de Gheyn’s late painting of A young woman in a black dress and veil with a dove, a partridge and a kingfisher (Private collection, Sweden; van Regteren Altena, op. cit., no. P16).