Still Life with Hunting Equipment and Dead Birds

As “authentic” as it may seem, this still life, a model of consummate fine painting, is not a reminiscence of a real hunting experience, but a highly artificial arrangement of prey and implements. The objects, perfectly captured in their materiality, point to traditional hunting methods such as coursing, trapping, and falconry. Not only the aristocratic privilege of hunting with falcons, but also the game bag painted in costly lapis lazuli blue indicates the courtly setting in which this painting was created.