painting (oil): ["Two Boys with a Bird"] aka ["The Birdcatchers"]

Two boys sit before a grassy bank on which rests a red velvet cap decorated with a silver bow and large orange and white feathers. The elder boy is dressed in a blue doublet with slashed sleeves and feeds what appears to be a caterpillar to a little bird that he holds in his right hand. His younger companion, dressed in a brown jacket, places his right arm around his friend's shoulder and smiles at him. The foreground is speckled with delicate pink and white flowers and a variety of small and large leaves. On one of the leaves a tiny snail can be seen. Behind the boys are trees and in the middle distance to the left are three figures and some sheep. Virag 20/12/2004, Between 1984 and 1985, a research assistant, Dr. Brendan Cassidy, was employed by Nottingham Castle Museum to research and write a catalogue of the foreign oil paintings in their collection. The catalogue never materialised, but drafts and notes relating to Cassidy's research can be found in the Artist Files and in the Archive at the museum. All references to Cassidy relate to these documents. Other versions of this subject by Eglon Hendrick van der Neer are at Welbeck Abbey, Collection of the Duke of Portland; Apsley House, Collection of the Duke of Wellington, which features a birdcage. It is very likely that NCM 1904-101 was the source of an engrvaing by Romanet for the Orleans Gallery. The engraving has been ascribed to Caspar Netscher, although Hofstede de Groot states that this attribution is "certainly wrong". That NCM 1904-101 was the source for this engraving has been supported by Richard W. Goulding, Welbeck Abbey: Letter dated 23 June 1910: "…it is certainly after your version of the picture, reversed. The treese are the same - in the middle distance in the background are a man and a woman, and further back is a third figure with some sheep." The central part of NCM 1904-101, showing the two boys, was re-engraved in 1768 by William Walker for Boydell. There is some indecision as to wether the source of the engravings by Romanet and Walker was NCM 1904-101 or the version of the composition at Welbeck Abbey (see Goudling, 1936) The inscription, "Hamilton & Brandon" found on the reverse of NCM 1904-101 referes to the line of the Dukes of Hmailton and is stamped with the Hamilton seal. On the front: The background has been repainted, especially along the right edge and in the lower left-hand corner. There are re-touchings around the boys, particularly above their heads. There has been speculation as to whether a bird cage above the boy's heads has been painted out, but this seems doubtful. On the reverse: 1. Old handwritten label, upper middle: "Boys with a birds nest Eglon vanderneer" (A handwritten note in the Artist File, presumably by Cassidy, notes that this title of the version of this composition at Welbeck Abbey as listed by C. Hofstede de Groot, "Catalogue raisonne of the Works of the most eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century", vol 5, p. 504, no. 119.) 2. NCM accession number 3. Browned old fragment of handwritten manuscript positioned on the diagonal and stamped with a seal at lower right corner. There is a piece missing at the left side: "…is to be sent to [an indecipherable character] Duke of Somerset July 1811 Hamilton & Brandon" The red seal features an ornate "H" below a crown. Virag 20/12/2004, "On the back of this panel is a note "This is to be sent to the Duke of Somerset, July, 1811." Signed "Hamilton and Brandon," and sealed." [Wallis, 1913] Collection of the Dukes of Hamilton until 1811; By marriage to Edward Adolphus, 11th Duke of Somerset (1775-1855), who married Lady Charlotte Hamilton 24 June 1800, in 1811; Sold from the collection of the 12th Duke of Somerset, Edward Adolphus, also known as Earl St. Maur, (1804-1885), Christie's, London, 28 June 1890, lot 40, bought by Richard Godson Millns for 41 guineas.