Singing bird

Rochus Van veen was the son of a lawyer and spent almost all his life in his native Beverwijk (except for a short stay in Utrecht). He was probably the nephew of Flemish painter Otto Van Veen. Rochus van Veen seems to have been one of the artists commissioned by Agneta Block to make drawings of specimens from the great natural history collection that she assembled at her country house, ‘Vijverhof’, on the river Vecht.
He devoted his life to drawing flowers, plants and animals, mostly in watercolour. Van Veen was not only a technical draughtsman: in his work, he transcends the observational aspect and gives his objects a pronounced poetic power.
This is also the case here: the songbirds are rendered with softness and tactility, with a sense of composition, detail and light. 

10.7 x 17.7 cm (4 ¹/₄ x 7 inches)
Watercolor on ribbed paper
17th century