Was this painted in Australia, or maybe the bird was smuggled into another country. Maybe back then you could just take wildlife? Interesting
The artist worked out of Belgium and France, so this is almost certainly a cockatoo that was either taken from the wild or hatched locally. Most people didn’t care much about protecting wildlife back then.
Back then, cool-looking wildlife was often exported worldwide for the amusement of bored rich people. And a large, unusual-looking parrot from the other side of the globe would have made a desirable conversation piece.
I thought to myself, “What a fancy cockatoo, to have such a long name”
Gustave would be a good name for a parrot.
I like the idea of the fancy cockatoo being the more important subject of the painting, like “oh hey, who’s that Gustave is hanging out with?” “idk, some woman at a piano” “well, lucky her”
