Heron Hunting with the Archduke Leopold William
David Teniers the Younger, 1654
A hunting scene with falcons over a lake, in which two birds of prey pursue a heron trying to take flight. Beneath this simple surface lies a political allegory. Probably painted around 1652-1656 by Teniers the Younger for Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Habsburg, who had governed the Spanish Netherlands since 1647 and had appointed Teniers court painter and keeper of his collection; Brussels, the region's capital, appears in the background. The heron is usually read as the Spanish Netherlands, attacked by France and the Dutch Republic, represented by the two falcons, yet still hopeful of victory rather than resigned to defeat. The image reflects a conflict between Spain and France in the south of the territory, and it works as a metaphor for an uncertain struggle. It later passed to the collection of the comte de Vaudreuil, France's Grand Falconer, and at the 1784 sale Louis XVI acquired it for the royal collections at the Louvre.
- Painter
- David Teniers the Younger
- Date
- 1654
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Dimensions
- 82 × 120 cm
- Museum
- Louvre Museum, Paris
- Genre
- genre art
- Depicts
- Grey Heron, hunting, falcon, Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria
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