Jan Mankes - Bird’s Nest, 1912

Jan Mankes (1889-1920)

Bird’s Nest

Signed upper left “J. Mankes”, circa 1912

Oil on canvas

19.2 x 23.5 cm

Condition:

In good condition

Provenance:

Vlielander Hein Collection, Switzerland.

Information:

This small Bird’s Nest from 1912 is a new discovery in the oeuvre of Jan Mankes and will be added to the catalogue raisonné. In a dark, dreamlike setting, Mankes depicts a simple nest with three eggs. The delicate eggs stand out against the heavy brown nest and the tangle of twigs and leaves surrounding it.

The nest was a motif that occupied Mankes on several occasions. He drew and painted various nests, often with eggs, but also with young birds. The Rijksmuseum holds, among other works, a drawing of a nest with three eggs and a lithograph from 1912 with five chicks.

For Mankes, nature was never merely a subject to be observed closely. He experienced birds and nests as something imbued with spirit and found the religious in nature rather than in the church. Seen in that light, the nest with its three eggs takes on a particular significance. It is not only a carefully observed fragment of nature, but may also be read as an image of expectation, new life and a new beginning. The almost sacred way in which Mankes allows the three eggs to emerge from the darkness seems to reinforce this interpretation.