Cornelis De Cocq Still Life Paintings, 1871

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Spare, haunting, and quietly magnificent—this set of 19th-century oil paintings by Cornelis de Cocq (1815–1889) captures the stillness of the … Read more Spare, haunting, and quietly magnificent—this set of 19th-century oil paintings by Cornelis de Cocq (1815–1889) captures the stillness of the hunt’s aftermath with remarkable restraint. One, larger in scale, shows a brace of woodcocks, their soft plumage rendered in velvety strokes, suspended from a nail, and with a powder horn behind. The smaller depicts three finches—red, green, and grizzled—each hanging from a string, their delicate bodies weightless against a dark background. There is no drama here, only silence and shadow, and a reverence for the natural world now stilled.

Born in Brussels, de Cocq trained at the Royal Academy in Antwerp and worked in the lineage of 17th-century Dutch and Flemish still-life painting. But where his predecessors leaned into opulence, de Cocq brought a quieter, more intimate sensibility. His brushwork is sensitive and restrained, and his compositions evoke more than they describe. Together, these two works feel like whispered elegies—mournful, meditative, and deeply felt. See less