Peacocks, 1683, Oil on canvas, 74 7/8 x 53 in. (190. 2 x 134. 6 cm), Paintings, Melchior d' Hondecoeter (Dutch, Utrecht 1636?1695 Amsterdam), Hondecoeter represents the fourth generation of a family of painters originally from Flanders. He grew up in Utrecht but from 1663 onward worked in Amsterdam. His large pictures of exotic birds in parklike landscapes decorated elegant town houses, the residents of which also enjoyed or imagined retreats to country estates