A Rooster and Turkey Fighting

About the Artwork

One of the most fashionable artists of his time, Hondecoeter specialized in paintings of domestic and exotic birds, and other animals. Here the composition is enlivened by the swirl and excitement of the fighting rooster and turkey, set in a garden with classical architecture. A large picture like this must have been placed high over a fireplace in a rich Amsterdam house.

Inscriptions

signed upper center: M C Hondecoeter

Provenance

Charles Fairfax Murray, London (Paris sale 1914). Frances Roche (New York sale 1948). (Harari & Johns, London, and Newhouse Gallery, New York), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1986.

Exhibition history

Year in Review for 1986. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 4-March 15, 1987).

Quick Overview

Artist: Melchior de Hondecoeter (Dutch, 1636–1695)
Date: c. 1680
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: Framed: 164.5 x 193 x 10 cm (64 3/4 x 76 x 3 15/16 in.); Unframed: 137.2 x 166.4 cm (54 x 65 1/2 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: European Painting and Sculpture
Credit line: John L. Severance Fund
Accession no.: 1986.59

More by Melchior de Hondecoeter in museum collections

Peacocks
Melchior de Hondecoeter
1683 · Painting
Public collection via the Metropolitan Museum of ArtAT-00015151

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.