‘Les Peintures des Taxidermistes’ No.6. Art Print Photo by Sinke & Van Tongeren
By Sinke & Van Tongeren
Located in Haarlem, NL
The third series of photographs by fine Taxidermists Sinke & Van Tongeren
After observing and analysing so many 17th century paintings, they were inspired to create a new series of work focused on still life masterpieces. They chose photography as the medium to portray their fine Taxidermy work interpreted through vanitas still lifes.
The collection, ‘Les Peintures des Taxidermistes’, comprises eight works.
Vanitas still lifes were enormously popular in the 17th century, often inspired by biblical themes and the saying that “All is vanity”. It reminded the viewer of his or her own mortality. For these series of still lifes Sinke & van Tongeren not only created meaningful scenes of taxidermy, they also mined their enormous collection of great finds to gather the most beautiful and unusual antiques to complement each scene.
Title of this work; ’RÉUNION D’OISEAUX ÉTRANGERS’
Cabinets of curiosity were of monumental importance in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Assembling them with interesting and rare objects was a competitive hobby amongst the elite, and to collect a great number of mounted species from everywhere in the world was the Holy Grail of the day. For ‘Réunion d’oiseaux étrangers’, we created that Holy Grail again, but this time stocking our cabinet with seemingly live species. This plentiful composition is staged in a cabinet with different boxes holding rare species such as a Toco Toucan, Scarlet ibis, Cock of the Rock...
Category
Early 17th Century Dutch Renaissance Antique Georges Lepape
