Oil, on canvas, 113cm by 107cm.
The painting appears in the 1763 Burghley Inventory, which records in the distinctive hand of Brownlow, 9th Earl of Exeter (1725-1793): ‘the West Dressing room…a fire picture with a macaw, cockatoo & guinea pigs.’
Tobias Stranover was born in Hermannstadt, Transylvania, then part of the Habsburg Empire.
He travelled to Germany and Holland, where he became a follower of the Dutch bird painter Melchior d’Hondecoeter (1636-1695).
Having later travelled to England, he remained here until his death.
