When it’s raining in Central Park but I really want to see some birds while keeping my camera dry, sometimes a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art can provide a very satisfying experience, as it did when I visited on November 22. Birds are everywhere in the museum, and although I can’t always identify them, I can definitely enjoy them.
Figure of a Predatory Bird, Iran, 12th-13th century, stonepaste, monochrome glazed.
Some of the birds are very obvious, and have identifications in their titles.
Female Golden Parakeet, plate 19 from Histoire naturelle des perroquets, 1801-5, François Levaillant, French, 1753-1824, Jacques Barraband, French, 1767-1809, printed by Imprimerie Langlois, Paris, engraving and etching, partially printed a la poupée, with watercolor.
Male Lilac-Breasted Roller, plate 25 from Histoire naturelle des perroquets, 1801-5, François Levaillant, Jacques Barraband.
Some of the birds appear in paintings we recognize from frequent visits to the museum, but often we do not recollect the birds. Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuniga 1784-1792, by Goya, is one of those very familiar paintings. The magpie and finches don’t always get my attention, but I do remember those cats!
Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuniga 1784-1792, Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes), 1787-88, oil on canvas
Another very familiar painting with birds is Bruegel’s The Harvesters (left), although the birds are so secondary that they are often not noticed. I think they are crows, but they are so vague they could be any bird. What I find interesting is that although there are laborers in the painting, the birds are the only non-human animals.
In contrast, the bird in Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Donors (details, right), by Lorenzo Veneziano, is very prominent, framed by the hands of the infant Christ and the Madonna.
The Harvesters (detail), 1565, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Netherlandish, Breda (?) ca. 1525-1569 Brussels.
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Two Donors (details), ca. 1360-65, Lorenzo Veneziano, Italian, Venice, active 1356-72, tempera on wood, gold ground.
Paintings depicting the life of Christ often have birds, many of which have symbolic significance. The dove often represents peace or the Holy Spirit. Cranes often represent loyalty and vigilance. The dove is prominent in David’s Annunciate; Jesus contemplates the crane in Moretto’s Christ in the Wilderness.
Archangel Gabriel; The Virgin Annunciateca, 1510, Gerard David, Netherlandish.
Christ in the Wilderness, ca. 1515-20, Moretto da Brescia (Alessandro Bonvicino), Italian Brescia, ca. 1498-1554 Brescia, oil on canvas. This reproduction, from the Met Museum Web site, shows a crane as well as four other birds.
Detail of the crane from Christ in the Wilderness, .
Making Marvels: Science & Splendor at the Courts of Europe, a delightful new exhibition at the Met, yielded several birds, sometimes the focus of the piece and sometimes an entertaining afterthought. Unless you make a point of looking at the rear of the Diana automaton, you might miss that bird. But it is very hard to miss the ostriches in the two ewers.
Automaton Clock in the Form of Diana on Her Chariot, South German, probably Augsburg, ca. 1610, case: ebony, bronze (gilded); dials: silver (partially enameled); movement: iron, brass.
Ostrich Egg Ewer, Hans Claus I (active 1627-71), German, Nuremberg, ca. 1630, ostrich egg, silver gilded.
Ewer in the Form of an Ostrich and Basin, Marx Weinold (active 1665-1700); Johann Mittnacht I (1643-1727), German, Augsburg, ca. 1689-92.
Eagles often figure in art, and they were found in at least three pieces in the Making Marvels exhibition.
Table Clock in the Form of an Imperial Double Eagle, Elias Kreittmayr the Elder (active second half of the 17th century), German, Friedberg, ca. 1680-90, silver, copper, brass (partially gilded, silvered), wood, iron.
Detail (above) of eagles holding the Miraculous Writing Machine.
Detail of Table Clock in the Form of an Imperial Double Eagle .
The Miraculous Writing Machine (right), Friedrich von Knaus (1724-1789), Austrian, Vienna, 1760, iron, brass, bronze (cast, some colored), paper, wood (with marbleized stucco, gilding).
Order of the White Eagle, hat ornament, from the Sapphire Garniture of Augustus the Strong, Johann Melchior Dinglinger (1664-1731), sapphires, lynx sapphire (blue cordierite), diamonds, gold, silver, enamel, steel).
Several of the other birds in the Making Marvels exhibition were not identifiable, but were so much fun to see.
Goa Stone and Case (above), India, probably Goa, late 17th-early 18th century, stone: compound of organic and inorganic materials; case: gold (pierced, repoussé, cast).
Detail (above) from Goa Stone and Case.
Welcome Cup in the Form of a Fox Holding a Goose (The Bobenhaus Willkomm), Paulus Tullner (active 1553-96). German, Nuremberg, 1565-70, silver (partially gilded).
Detail (above) from Pietre Dure Night Clock (right), case and hardstone mosaics: Galleria dei Lavori, Florence, supervised by Giovanni Battista Foggini (1652-1725); movement: Francesco Papillon (active ca. 1700), Italian, Florence, 1704-5, ebony, bronze (gilded), semiprecious stones (chalcedony, jasper, lapis lazuli, verde d'Arno).
Detail (above) from Table Fountain with Neptune and the Sea Voyage of Bacchus (right), Melchior Gelb (1581-1654), German, Augsburg, ca. 1652/53, silver (cast, embossed, chased, chiseled, partially gilded); sheet silver (cut).
Design for an Automaton Clock in the Form of an Elephant, Badi' al-Zaman ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari (1136-1206); calligraphy by Farrukh ibn 'Abd al-Latif, Syria, 1315, ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper.
Tankard, Prague (Czech Republic), ca. 1585-90, silver (some gilded), silver foil (cast, embossed, engraved, chased), rock crystal, garnets.
I also did a little birding in the Renaissance of Etching exhibition, where I was able to see Prometheus attacked by a vulture.
Detail (above) from Prometheus (left), Sebastiano de' Valentinis, Italian, 1558, etching with touches of drypoint.
Still lifes have often featured dead birds, and there are several paintings in the Met Museum that do portray deceased birds. I chose one painting to include here, because birding the Met will lead you to some of the less-than-happy paintings of birds. When thinking about birds in art, we often think of the paintings of John James Audubon, and perhaps we should remember that his models were dead birds he pinned in positions that represented what he had seen in the wild. The Met Museum does have several Audubon prints, which I hope to visit some time in the future.
Detail (above) from Gamepiece with a Dead Heron (right), 1695, Jan Weenix, Dutch, Amsterdam ca. 1642-1719 Amsterdam, oil on canvas.
There are many more birds throughout the Met Museum, and often touring the museum becomes more interesting when bird-watching the art — no binoculars needed!