Vogel op een tak 1801 - 1806

Jacques Louis Pérée made this watercolor painting of a bird on a branch some time around the late 18th century in the Netherlands. During this period, Dutch society had a powerful fascination with the natural world. The practice of illustrating birds served not only scientific purposes but also reflected broader cultural and economic interests. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Dutch East India Company played a significant role in global trade, which brought previously unknown specimens of flora and fauna, including exotic birds, to Europe. Paintings of this kind allowed wealthy merchants and aristocrats to flaunt their access to global resources through commissioning artworks, thus the image serves as a symbol of wealth and sophistication. By examining the inventories of collectors of this period, as well as treatises on natural history, we can start to understand the painting as an image enmeshed in a wide web of social and economic relations. The image gives us a glimpse into the culture of collecting, where art, science, and commerce converged.