Bird's Concert

This colorful variety of birds surrounding an owl sitting on a branch holding an open musical score is taken from Aesop's fable The Owl and the Birds. Thanks to Snyders's influence, this motif received wide dissemination in 17th-century Flemish art. During the Middle Ages, the fable was looked upon as a religious allegory. Snyders is far from any such interpretation. The various species of birds are humanized by participating in a musical gathering, and thus the human social construct known as a concert is superimposed onto them. He uses the subject as a pretext for demonstrating the unbelievable wealth of feathered fauna. The picture shows both the birds populating the European forests, fields and waterways and exotic birds which were especially raised in Europe, such as the peacock, Amazonian parrot and red macaw. Judging by the format of the work, it was intended to serve as a dessus-de-porte, a decorative panel placed over a doorway.