Storks, mallards, chickens, a heron, a frog and other birds in a river landscape

We are grateful to Fred Meijer of the RKD for confirming the attribution after inspection of the original and for suggesting a date of circa 1630. The artist was the son of Gillis Claesz. de Hondecoeter (1575-1638) and trained under him in Amsterdam before returning to his native Utrecht in 1629. The present work reveals the influence of his father in the treatment of the details and the landscape but perhaps comes closer in style to the late work of Roelandt Savery who was active in Utrecht at the same time. Gijsbert's later bird pictures predominantly feature chickens alone and are rendered in a somewhat more polished manner (see, for example, the Cockerel and Hens, dated 1642, sold at Sotheby's, London, 16 December 1999, lot 45). The artist was the father and first teacher of his more famous son, Melchior.