Undergrowth - Pieter Van Der Hulst IV (1651 - 1727)

Oil on canvas signed and dated on the trunk: "P. Van Der Hulst fc: A ° 1686".
Under a sky glowing with twilight, van der Hulst paints the exuberance of wild life in an undergrowth. In the shade of a tree similar to a cedar tree, a real catalog of fauna (ermine, taupe, quail, butterflies, lucans ...) and flora (thistle, cuckoo, daffodils ...) unfolds under our eyes. A woodcock preparing to take flight throne in majesty in the center of the composition. It is surmounted by a red-headed lovebird perched on a branch. This exotic bird with shimmering colors escaped from the cage of a rich Dutch merchant?

Our painting is listed in Susanna Steensma's book "Otto Marseus van Schrieck, Leben und Werk" on page 94 and reproduced on p. 413 plate 24. It is presented in a French frame carved and gilded.

Dimensions: 78 x 63 cm - 97 x 81 cm with the frame

Pieter van der Hulst (Dordrecht 26.02.1651 - Id. 14.02.1727). The painter and biographer Arnold Houbraken (1660 - 1719) sheds light on his career in his book "The Grand Théâtre des Peintres Néerlandais". In 1674, van der Hulst was already a painter and he traveled to Rome where he joined the famous brotherhood of Bentvueghels which brings together Dutch painters staying in the Eternal City. He will receive the nickname "Zonnebloem" (sunflower), probably because he prefers wild flora to that painted by his colleagues Jan Davidsz of Heem or Daniel Seghers.
After a short stay in The Hague between 1681 and 1683, he returned to Dordrecht in 1684 and remained there until 1691. Date on which he was received painter at the court of Denmark. He settled permanently in his hometown in 1699. Pieter van der Hulst is interested in the diversity of fauna and flora of the undergrowth, so his approach seems to be based on the compositions of Matthias Withoos.