Toucan Resting on a Branch; verso: Two Falcons c. 18th century

Curator: This is Jean-Baptiste Oudry's "Toucan Resting on a Branch," from sometime between 1686 and 1755. It's a delicate rendering, isn’t it? Editor: It is, although my first thought was "melancholy." That soft palette feels almost like a memory fading. I find myself wondering about the context in which Oudry depicted this toucan. Curator: Well, Oudry was Louis XV’s official painter and an animalier, so he frequently portrayed animals for the royal menagerie. Perhaps this piece was a study? Editor: And a study that also inadvertently captures the exotic animal's displacement, its presence in a foreign court. There's a tension, even in its repose, between wildness and captivity. Curator: I like that reading. It adds another layer of depth to what might seem like a simple depiction. I'll never look at this the same way. Editor: Art's about making us see, isn’t it? Considering colonial power dynamics and animal representation here reveals a deeper understanding of the piece.