Summary description
Oil painting on canvas, A Dead Swan and Peacock, by Jan Weenix the younger (1642-1719), signed and dated J Weenix 1708. The dead swan and peacock are hanging from a tree, with other dead brids and a basket of fruit in a garden landscape by a sculptured urn.
Provenance
Purchased by Sir Abraham Hume from Christie's, 18 June 1836, lot 44, from the collection of Sir Charles Bagot, KB (1781-1843); bequeathed by him to John Hume Egerton, Viscount Alford (1812-1851); thence by descent until given with Belton House to the National Trust by Edward, 7th Baron Brownlow in 1984.
Marks and inscriptions
Lower left: J Weenix 1708
Makers and roles
Jan Weenix the younger (Amsterdam 1642 – Amsterdam 1719), artist
References
Belton House, Lincolnshire, 1984 [The National Trust], 1984
Belton House, Lincolnshire, 1987 [The National Trust; Jonathan Marsden], 1985, revised 1987, The smaller picture of a dead swan over the fireplace, surrounded by gilt wood-carvings possibly by the Victorian restorer, W. G. Rogers, is by Hondecoeter's contemporary, Jan Weenix."
Wright 1989 Christopher Wright, Dutch Painting in the Seventeenth Century: Images of a Golden Age in British Collections, London and Birmingham, 1989
Arnold 1991 Bruce Arnold, The Art Atlas of Britain & Ireland, London, 1991
Laing 1991 Alastair Laing, 'Whence this clutch of four?', Country Life, vol.CLXXXVI, 1991, pp.172-3
Belton House [The National Trust; Adrian Tinniswood] 1992, 1996, 1999, 191 Dead Swan and Peacock. JAN WEENIX the younger (1642-1719). Signed and dated 1708. Not part of the original scheme with the Hondecoeters, but complementing them perfectly. The younger Weenix was a cousin of Hondecoeter and specialised in such large and decorative game-pieces.
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