Birds near a Mountain Stream, Herman Henstenburgh

Birds near a Mountain Stream, Herman Henstenburgh

In this imaginary landscape, Hoorn native Herman Henstenburgh combined various bird species, such as the roseate spoonbill from North America and the stork found in Europe and North Africa. In the 17th century the port of Hoorn was an important base for the Dutch East (VOC) and West India (WIC) Trading Companies. The artist will thus have had plenty of opportunities to study the exotic species that Dutch merchants brought back to the harbour from distant lands.

Herman Henstenburgh (1667-1726, Hoorn), was an 18th-century painter from the Northern Netherlands.

According to Johan van Gool he was very good at copying prints and copied the watercolours of Pieter Holstein, which were so good that his parents let him become a pupil of Johannes Bronkhorst in 1683. Bronckhorst was able to live by his paintings, but supplemented his income with his work on the side as pastrybaker until his death, and Henstenburgh clearly learned this business from him as well, because he took over this business when Bronckhorst died.