Contact gallery for price		Hans Savery Kortrijk/Courtrai 1597 - 1655 Utrecht Birds by a Waterfall Oil on panel  3 1/2 x 5 inches (8.5 x 12.5 cm) Signed and dated: H. Savery 1626 Provenance: Private Collection, New England Hans Savery was the nephew and pupil of the well-known Flemish master, Roelandt Savery, and son of the artist Jacob Savery. Jacob and Roelandt migrated to the Northern Netherlands in the 1580s, settling first in Haarlem and then moving to Amsterdam. There is less information about the life of Hans but it is known that he worked primarily in Amsterdam and joined his uncle Roelandt in Prague between 1610 and 1615 while he was still working for Rudolf II.  In 1619, he again followed his uncle to Utrecht, where they lived in the same house. As he shared so much of his life with Roelandt, it is thus not surprising that we see in Hans, a similar interest in the interpretation of nature of a distinctive Flemish flavor. Our picture is a seemingly late autumnal scene in which a large flock of birds gather by a waterfall. Savery groups the birds into three clusters, helping to organize the compositional space and guide the viewer's eye from bottom left corner to top right corner in a sweeping swirl. The majestic white creatures at the left are probably Dodo birds, a flightless species that is now extinct.  The birds in the stream are shown preening their feathers, feeding or swimming, animating the composition. Savery successfully combines rather vigorous brushwork in the rendering of each bird with a graceful line. The movement and playfulness of the birds is echoed in the arc of the waterfall, which seems to leap from the picture space. These pictorial elements communicate a tangible energy to the viewer, balanced by the elegant, simple beauty of the natural world. A spectacular palette of gold-yellow, brown and green, as well as the subtle inclusion of two additional birds taking flight into the cool gray-blue sky enhances the autumnal theme. The drama of the changing seasons is further recalled by the contrast between darks in the foreground and a lighter sky beckoning in the distance.