(1530-1591/92) A cucoo and a blue roller, gouaches on paper, trimmed along the outlines of the birds and laid down on rough paper of the time, the blue roller inscribed "Hondecoeter." by another hand, 16 x 20 cm and 15.5 x 20 cm, numbered 22 and 24, mounted, unframed, (2), (Sch)

Provenance: Düsseldorf, private collection. With a certificate by Dr. Rainer Stüwe, Heidelberg ( 23 May 2001). In his certificate Mister Stüwe remarks that the present two gouaches are excellent works of the court artist Hans Hofmann and that they are from his late Nuremberg phase (c. 1550-1592). The birds painted on paper were trimmed along their outlines and laid down on a paper of the time but of rougher texture. The two gouaches are comparable with other depictions of animals by the artist, as for example the depictions of a frog, an oriole, a crown crane, a chaffinch or a peacock (see Stüwe 1997, pp. 66-99, Cat. Nos. 70-76). They all share a detailed penstroke and a careful choice of colour. They also have a certain stiff position of the motif in common which is opposed to the lively gaze of the birds. The combination of a stiff positioning and a lively gaze of the birds is characteristic for Hofmann’s animal depictions between 1580-85, in any case before his sojourn at the Prague Imperial court. The atmospheric shading which connects the birds’ claws with the paper’s surface is also typical of Hofmann’s work in this time. In his time as court painter of Emperor Rudolf II. in Prague Hofmann developed a delicate technique of frequently heightening his motifs with gold, which is, however, not yet noticeable in the present sheets. Literature: Rainer Stüwe, Dürer in Kopie - Die Gemälde and Graphiken der Nuremberger Dürer-Kopisten des 16. and 17. Jahrhunderts, Heidelberg 1997, pp. 66-99, Cat. Nos. 70-76.