Boy with a Goldfinch and its Nest in a Bird-Pot

In this small painting, a young boy delights in the discovery of a nest of goldfinches inside a traditional Dutch bird-pot. He has unhooked the terracotta vessel from the nail visible on the wall behind and placed the pot on the stone plinth next to his broad-brimmed hat, which breaks out of the picture plane into the viewer’s space. A goldfinch perches on the boy’s finger. The attention of both the bird and the boy are drawn to the nest, suggesting a soundtrack of birdsong that raises a smile on the boy’s animated face. Within the cavity of the bird-pot, deft flicks of colour indicate the jumble of the nest interior.

The Dutch artist Carel de Moor II (1655-1738) was educated by Gerrit Dou (1613-75) in Leiden, in the Netherlands, and became a well-respected artist, printmaker and founder of the Leiden Drawing Academy. In 1714, he was knighted by the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles VI (1685-1740). In his early career he painted small genre scenes such as this. While genre paintings often carried a moral message – taking a bird’s nest was indicative of greed – here the tenderness and delight on the boy’s face suggest a more positive message of childhood compassion. A comparable painting by De Moor in a private collection shows a similar boy playing with puppies.