A game piece with a buzzard, a stock dove, pigeons, quail, pheasant, a pair of woodcocks and other birds arranged in a landscape

Jacob Xavier Vermoelen was born in Antwerp and began his artistic career in the studio of Pieter Snayers. He was registered as a Master in the Guild of Saint Luke in 1733, although no records of his activity as a painter in Antwerp survive. In 1748 he is recorded in Rome, where he executed two still lifes for the notable art collector Cardinal Silvio Valenti Gonzaga.

We are grateful to Fred G. Meijer for endorsing the attribution, and for suggesting this painting was executed in Rome, circa 1750 (private communication, May 2026).