Hawking

Hunting with falcons was a pastime of the nobility in 17th-century Europe, and the Dutch had an unexpected part in it. Falconers from Valkenswaard, a village on the Brabant heath, caught wild hawks on migration, trained them and for generations served royal courts abroad. Wouwerman painted hawking parties many times, for Dutch collectors who liked to own the look of an aristocratic sport. This panel, signed PHILS.W, went through grand hands. In the 18th century it was in Paris with the Prince of Carignan, a nobleman of the house of Savoy, before it came to the princes of Orange. It is part of the Mauritshuis collection and hangs in the Gallery Prince Willem V in The Hague.