![]() ![]() They also found themselves prey to the hunter, and an unfortunate number appear as nature morte, as in Édouard Manet’s Dead Eagle Owl (1881), painted when he was convalescing from a serious bout of illness.Īpart from appearing as themselves, owls are a not uncommon painterly device for indicating the time of day, or rather night. Édouard Manet (1832–1883), Dead Eagle Owl (1881), oil on canvas, 97 × 64 cm, Private collection. So owls may have been painted simply as another bird, giving some interest and variation to the fauna of a painting. Wikimedia Commons.Ī hundred and fifty years later, though, works such as Melchior d’Hondecoeter’s Concert of the Birds (1670) may be more fanciful, but could also be expected to be more accurate and specific representations. Melchior d’Hondecoeter (1636–1695), Concert of the Birds (1670), oil on canvas, 84 x 99 cm, Private collection. We should not, therefore, sit with a modern bird guide next to Bosch’s paintings and follow modern identification techniques to try to determine exactly what he was representing. Wikimedia Commons.Īlbrecht Dürer’s delightful watercolour of a Little Owl (1508) may not be what you and I would now call a little owl, but shows the increasing care that was being taken to paint owls and other species more true to life. Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), Little Owl (1508), watercolour, dimensions not known, Albertina, Vienna. ![]() In an effort to gain a little more clarity, this article and the next consider some notable examples of owls in painting and print-making, to try to help resolve Bosch’s owls better.īosch was painting at the time that both the arts and sciences were getting better grips on the differences between the many species of birds (animals, and plants, too). Sometimes they might signify wisdom, other times ignorance they may bring the comfort of sleep at night, or be harbingers of murder and the occult. This is not helped by the seemingly multiple and contradictory meanings which have been associated with owls. Like so much of Bosch’s imagery, there has been frequent speculation as to what his owls ‘mean’, and how they should be read. By the time of his intricate triptychs, the owls are coming thick and fast. Starting with just one tucked away quietly in his Ecce Homo, one steps almost into the limelight of Saint Jerome at Prayer, while a hidden sibling keeps a watchful eye. If you were to count the owls in all his paintings, I suspect that Hieronymus Bosch was probably the most owlish major artist of all time. ![]()
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