A Great Grey Shrike
mid-17th–late 17 century
Medium
Watercolor and bodycolor
Dimensions
sheet: 5 7/16 x 7 3/16 in. (13.8 x 18.2 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Frits and Rita Markus Fund, 2002
Accession Number
2002.427
Tags
Art Historical Context
Welcome to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints collection, where Pieter Holsteyn II's *A Great Grey Shrike (mid- to late 17th century captivates with its exquisite detail. This small watercolor and bodycolor study (5 7/16 x 7 3/16 in.) portrays the fierce great grey shrike, a notorious as the "butcher bird for its habit of impaling prey on. Holsteyn, a Dutch artist active during the Golden Age, specialized in hyper-realistic depictions of birds and insects, blending artistry with scientific precision. Created amid Europe's burgeoning interest in natural history, the work refl...