Roelandt Savery was born in Kortrijk in 1576. At an early age he left for Amsterdam, where he worked as an apprentice for his brother, Jacob Savery (1563 – before 1603). After the latter's death he moved to Prague in 1604, where he was appointed court painter to Rudolf II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Rudolf was a great lover of the arts and a passionate collector who employed many of the most important painters of the period, making his court in Prague a major center of late Mannerist art and scientific inquiry. [1] Among the artists working there were Bartholomeus Spranger and Hans von Aachen, as well as Joris and Jacob Hoefnagel, Adriaan de Vries, Giuseppe Arcimboldo and many others. His art gallery was one of the most important in all of Europe, and his Kunstkammer contained extraordinary natural specimens and curiosities from around the world.

 

In 1606 Rudolf sent Savery on an unusual commission to Tirol to study and document the Alpine countryside. This reflected the Emperor's growing interest in naturalistic observation and scientific documentation of the natural world. The sketches of mountains, birds, trees and waterfalls that Savery made during his time in the Alps would serve as reference material for later works throughout his career, including the present painting. Rudolf's menagerie at Prague Castle contained many exotic animals from distant lands, which Savery took the time to carefully study and sketch, developing an extraordinary ability to render birds, mammals, and reptiles with scientific accuracy and artistic sensitivity.

 

After Rudolf's death in 1612, Savery continued working for his successor, Emperor Matthias, until 1618, when he returned to Utrecht. There he quickly became one of the most important painters in the city, befriending many local artists such as Balthasar van der Ast and Ambrosius Bosschaert, both renowned for their detailed still life paintings. Despite his considerable success and reputation, Savery died in absolute poverty in Utrecht in 1639, perhaps due to alcoholism. [2]

 

Savery primarily painted landscapes in the Flemish tradition of Gillis van Coninxloo, characterized by dense forest settings and rocky terrain, which he embellished with many meticulously painted animals and plants, sometimes with a mythological or biblical theme as background. He also painted multiple flower still life paintings that were highly prized by collectors. His depictions of Paradise, populated with exotic fauna, were particularly sought after as they demonstrated both the artist's technical virtuosity and the patron's erudition regarding the natural world.

 

Savery mainly painted compositions featuring many different animals, The present painting however depicts a single ox or bull, shown in profile facing right, standing against a shadowed grotto-like background. Looking sideways out of the frame, the animal is calm yet aware. The animal is rendered as a self-contained "portrait", without any narrative action. Though it almost looks like a study, this fully signed panel was definitely intended as an independent work. Individual studies of animals such as this are rare within Savery's oeuvre, though a few other examples are known. [3] Compared with his usual more exuberant and colourful works, the present picture is much more restrained and feels almost contemplative. 

 

 

END NOTES

 

 

[1] On Rudolf II's court and Kunstkammer, see Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, The School of Prague: Painting at the Court of Rudolf II, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1988 and Eliška Fučíková et al., Rudolf II and Prague: The Court and the City, London: Thames & Hudson, 1997.

 

[2] For more on Savery’s life and work, see K.J. Müllenmeister, Roelant Savery, Die Gemälde mit kritischem Oeuvrekatalog, Freren, 1988.

 

[3] See K.J. Müllenmeister (1988), nos. 125, 263, 264 and 265.