Still Life with Dead Birds, 1676

About the Work

Dutch and Flemish hunting still lifes also set an example for German painters of the Baroque. Here, Johann Heinrich Roos has staged the dead poultry as overwhelmingly lifelike hunting trophies. As in the case of Jan Weenix’s still life with a dead rabbit and birds, this painting would have reminded contemporary viewers of the aristocratic privilege of the hunt. At the same time, with its meticulous rendering of the lifeless bodies, it also illustrates a fundamental principle of the Baroque outlook on the world – the transience of earthly life.