Lot 116: s - Johannes Leemans The Hague 1633 - 1688 , A Trompe l'oeil still life of hunting equipment and a caged bird hanging from a wall oil on canvas

signed and dated lower right: J. Leemans / i677. oil on canvas

58 by 75 cm.

Private Collection, The Netherlands;
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 23 April 1993, lot 183.

Johannes Leemans and his brother Anthony specialised on painting trompe l'oeil hunting still lifes, exploiting the possibilities of haunting paraphanalia arranged hanging on a wall from nails to create entirely symmetrical compositions. The upper centre of the composition is usually formed, as here, of a bird cage (used for keeping decoys), with a game bag, powder horn and hunting horn suspended beneath, and whistles suspended by ribbons from nails either side. Both brothers and their followers repeated such compositions with small variations very often.