ORThe Open Room
Digital gallery
Back to the NGA collection
This is a painting of birds and insects near a building. The scene depicts swallows flying around an architectural frame decorated with vines, surrounded by large flies. At the bottom of the structure, there are storks interacting with a figure holding a tray of fish. The birds and insects are dynamic in their movement, contrasting with the geometric stability of the architecture. The use of muted earth tones and precise lines suggests this is a manuscript illustration from an earlier period.
Read the visual description

This is a painting of birds and insects near a building. The scene depicts swallows flying around an architectural frame decorated with vines, surrounded by large flies. At the bottom of the structure, there are storks interacting with a figure holding a tray of fish. The birds and insects are dynamic in their movement, contrasting with the geometric stability of the architecture. The use of muted earth tones and precise lines suggests this is a manuscript illustration from an earlier period.

National Gallery of Art · Drawing

"Do Not Have Swallows under the Same Roof" [fol. 40 recto]

French early 16th Century

Date
c. 1512/1514
Medium
pen and brown ink with watercolor on laid paper
Dimensions
overall: 16.3 x 10.7 cm (6 7/16 x 4 3/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Accession number
2006.11.43
Credit line
Woodner Collection, Gift of Andrea Woodner
Time span
1501 to 1550
Department
CG-E
Original NGA record Wikidata

Portfolio and series

Series
Speculum principis (Mirror for Princes)

Subjects and terms

  • French
  • bird
  • animal
  • Door
  • Philosophy
  • Food
  • Man
  • Building
Provenance

(Sale, London, Sotheby's, 13 July 1937, lot 64); (sale, London, Sotheby's, 15-17 November 1937, lot 546); (sale, London, Maggs Bros., Ltd., catalogue 709, 1941, no. 30); (purchased by William H. Schab Gallery via Paul Graupe); purchased by Ian Woodner, New York, by 1973; by inheritance to his daughters, Andrea and Dian Woodner, New York, 1990.

Inscription

center left in pen and brown ink: pythagoras

Watermarks

crown (top fragment of unidentified mark)

NGA object ID 86043. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.