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Réflexions sur l’absence de représentation du colibri dans la peinture et la gravure des Pays-Bas au XVIe siècle

par Dragon, Marie-Anne
Editeur scientifique Zdanov, Sacha ;Frère, Wendy ;Wasilewski, Xénia
Référence Penser l’œuvre d’art de la création à la restauration. Mélanges offerts à Catheline Périer-D’Ieteren à l’occasion de son quatre-vingtième anniversaire, Éditechnart, Bruxelles, page (117-131)
Publication Publié, 2024-06-01

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Résumé :

This article examines the striking absence of the hummingbird in painting and printmaking in the Low Countries during the sixteenth century, despite the fascination it inspired in accounts of the New World. It shows that this absence cannot be explained by a technical inability to depict the bird’s iridescent plumage. The author puts forward several hypotheses, including the rarity of observable specimens in Europe and the lack of illustrations in natural history books. Textual descriptions often portray the hummingbird as a hybrid creature, halfway between bird and insect, which complicates its iconographic integration. Unlike the scarlet macaw or the turkey, the hummingbird could not be assimilated into an already established symbolic tradition in Western art. Finally, Amerindian feather mosaics made from hummingbird plumes, displayed in cabinets of curiosities, were perceived as marvels rather than as objects revealing the bird itself. Taken together, these factors explain the invisibility of the hummingbird in the art of the Low Countries in the sixteenth century.