Still Life with Dead Game

Executed in 1661, this still life by Willem van Aelst is an oil painting on canvas. The work measures approximately 84.7 by 67.3 centimeters. Stylistically, the composition features a dead hare and a rooster, subjects rendered with the artist's characteristic attention to naturalistic detail.

Historical records from a 1749 Amsterdam sale describe the piece as "artfully painted," noting its specific dimensions and original presentation within a black frame with a gilded inner liner. The survival of these early descriptions alongside the physical object confirms the continuity of its material state and subject matter from the mid-eighteenth century to its current location.

The work titled Still Life with Dead Game was painted by Willem van Aelst in 1661. It first appears in an Amsterdam sale on 14 October 1749 (lot no. 16) and entered the collection of Dr. C.J.K. van Aalst, who kept it at Huis-te-Hoevelaken by 1939. The painting was later sold at Sotheby's Mak van Waay in Amsterdam on 18 May 1981, then handled by Richard Green in London before being acquired by the National Gallery of Art on 8 June 1982.

Willem van Aelst's Still Life with Dead Game (1661) is currently held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The work entered the museum's inventory on June 8, 1982, following a sale by dealer Richard Green in London. Prior to its acquisition by the gallery, the painting was part of the collection of Dr. C.J.K. van Aalst at Huis-te-Hoevelaken, documented in 1939. Its provenance traces back to an Amsterdam sale on October 14, 1749 (lot 16). The painting depicts a hare and a rooster and measures 84.7 cm by 67.3 cm.

Willem van Aelst's 1661 oil on canvas Still Life with Dead Game exemplifies Dutch Golden Age still-life painting, combining a dead hare and a rooster in a composition noted for its virtuoso handling of texture and light. The work entered the National Gallery of Art through a 1982 acquisition from Richard Green, having previously been owned by Dr. C.J.K. van Aalst and sold at auction in 1981. Scholarship highlights its rarity as the only known van Aelst painting that includes both a hare and a rooster, a point emphasized in contemporary catalogues and later studies of the artist's oeuvre.

Its provenance reflects a documented chain from an 18th-century Amsterdam sale to private Dutch collections, underscoring its significance within the artist's broader corpus.

Willem van Aelst's "Still Life with Dead Game," painted in 1661, is an oil on canvas work. This painting exemplifies the still life genre, focusing on a carefully composed arrangement of recently hunted animals. It showcases the artist's skill in rendering textures and creating a sense of presence through light.