An Owl being Mobbed by Other Birds
Francis Barlow (Lincolnshire c.1626 - London 1704)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1673
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
886 x 1340 mm (34 ⅞ x 52 ¾ in)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Ham House, Surrey
NT 1140159
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, An Owl being Mobbed by Other Birds by Francis Barlow (Lincolnshire c.1626 - London 1704), 1673. A tawny owl sits in the hollow of an oak tree at the edge of a wood surrounded by other birds, some of which – one pair each of magpies, jays and tits – mob it; swallows perch and fly from a fragment of classical architecture at right; a valley and hills in the distance.
Provenance
Painted and installed as an overdoor in ‘my Lady’s Chamber’ in 1673; in 1677, 1683, 1727 and c.1820 inventories and thence by descent until acquired in 1948 by HM Government when Sir Lyonel, 4th Bt (1854 – 1952) and Sir Cecil Tollemache, 5th Bt (1886 – 1969) presented Ham House to the National Trust, and entrusted to the care of the Victoria & Albert Museum, until 1990, when returned to the care of the National Trust, and to which ownership was transferred in 2002.
Credit line
Ham House, The Dysart Collection (purchased by HM Government in 1948 and transferred to the National Trust in 2002)
Makers and roles
Francis Barlow (Lincolnshire c.1626 - London 1704), artist
References
Thornton and Tomlin 1980 Peter Thornton, and Maurice Tomlin. “The Furnishing and Decoration of Ham House.” Furniture History, The Journal of The Furniture History Society Vol.XVI, 1980, p.76
