Wallace Collection Online - Flowers on a Fountain with a Peacock

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Jan Weenix (1642 - 1719) Flowers on a Fountain with a Peacock Netherlands: Date: c. 1700–10

Object Type: Painting

Medium: Oil on canvas

Image size: 177 x 165 cm

Inv: P59

Location: Back State Room

This picture, the most spectacular of a group of thirteen paintings by Weenix in the Wallace Collection, is a particularly fine and characteristic example of his late style. It demonstrates the artist’s skill in combining a theatrical mise en scène with finely observed detail. Weenix combined natural and architectural elements, composed in the grand manner, with dramatic lighting to obtain a monumental effect. The picture’s impressive visual power, however, derives principally from the artist’s ability for rendering different textures in paint. The translucent bloom of the grapes, the curling leaves, the pomegranate splitting with ripeness, the peacock’s convincingly rendered feathers and the confident modelling of the stone sculptures demonstrate Weenix’s exquisite ability to render different textures in paint. A plethora of details, such as the snail on the stone ledge, provide variety and visual interest. The painting’s large scale and superb quality may indicate that it once formed part of a larger commission from a prestigious patron, possibly for a set of Seasons.

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