A hunting still life with game and two hounds, oil on canvas, 95 x 130 cm, framed

We are grateful to Fred Meijer, RKD, The Hague, for confirming the attribution of the present painting.

The present picture is a characteristic work by this Flemish artist, who influenced an entire generation of French, Italian, and Dutch still life painters, including Desportes and Oudry. The painting depicts a day’s bag, with the hounds on the right-hand side apparently waiting for their master’s command. Koninck, who used this composition in numerous variants, had been apprenticed to Jan Fyt, whose impact also manifests itself in the present picture. The artist also spent formative years in the workshop of Pieter Boel. From 1670 on, Koninck worked in Paris, which accounts for his influence on French still life painters. Eventually, Koninck left Paris for Rome, where he joined the Bentvleughels in 1671 and adopted the nickname “Rammelaar”. He also exerted great influence on such Italian painters of hunting scenes as Baldassare da Caro, Giovanni Crivelli, and Nicola Malinconico. Koninck, whose work was extremely popular among the Roman aristocracy, only returned to Brussels in 1694. A composition comparable to the present picture is in the Musée Thomas Henry, Cherbourg.