Sheldrake ducks and ducklings with a magpie in a garden, a village beyond

Prominently signed by the artist on the stone ledge at center, this dynamic painting is a superlative example of Melchior’s work from the early 1660s, just after his relocation to Amsterdam. The starkly realistic rendering of animals in the foreground, Italianate landscape, and emphasis on maternal tenderness are hallmarks of the artist’s mature style. The painting also has an appealing and harmonious balance to the composition typical of Melchior’s late works. High energy vignettes – such as the duck at the moment of takeoff at upper left – are offset by images of quiet repose, as seen in the mother duck devotedly watching over the ducklings swimming in the foreground. Commenting on these characteristics in 1945, William R. Valentiner, wrote that the present picture is 'an excellent work of Melchior de Hondecoeter, the best Dutch painter of birds and farmyards in the seventeenth century. The painting is fully signed, rich in color and in a fine state of preservation'(written communication, 6 August 1945).
Though Melchior is not known to have produced preparatory sketches for his paintings, he did make oil sketches of animals from life, and often used the poses from these for several subsequent paintings. A figure identical to that of the duckling lying on the rocks at right can be found in a charming oil sketch, also datable to the artist’s Amsterdam period, which was on the art market in the 1990s (Lempertz, Cologne, 20 May 1995, lot 864 and Zurich, Galerie Koller, 19-21 March 1997, lot 29. RKD illustration no. 0000013053).