Stilleven met twee dode vogels 1848 - 1885

This is Cornelis Samuel Stortenbeker's watercolor, "Still Life with Two Dead Birds." Stortenbeker, born in the Netherlands in 1838, painted in a time of shifting social structures, with debates raging about class and citizenship. This modest watercolor offers a window into the complexities of Dutch society. Birds, traditionally symbols of freedom, here are presented in death. Are they trophies? Evidence of a hunt? Or are they meant to elicit a sense of loss? The intimate scale of this work invites contemplation. The identities of these birds are rendered anonymous in their stillness. In their silent repose, Stortenbeker evokes themes of mortality and vulnerability, prompting reflections on the relationship between humans and the natural world, and inviting viewers to consider the lives, now stilled, of these creatures.