Pheasants, poultry and other birds in a formal park

Born in Antwerp, Casteels studied under his father who was also a painter of still lives. In 1708 he came to London with his brother-in-law and fellow artist, Pieter Tillemans (c.1684-1734), to work for a picture dealer named Turner as a copyist of Old Master paintings. Although he briefly returned to his home town in 1713, his main practice was in London, where he successfully specialised in painting still lives and exotic birds. In 1726 the artist published twelve etchings of his own compositions and from 1735 made designs for calico printing. He died in Richmond, Surrey, in 1749.

We are grateful to Fred Meijer of the Netherlands Institute of Art History for confirming the attribution of this picture (on the basis of a photograph).