Roelant Savery

Key facts

Lived

1576–1639, Dutch

Movement

• Baroque

1. 1576Born in Kortrijk, Flanders (now Belgium). His family fled religious persecution during the Dutch Revolt, settling in the northern Netherlands.
2. 1604Entered the service of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II in Prague at the age of 28. Rudolf was an obsessive collector of natural curiosities, and Savery was tasked with painting the imperial menagerie.
3. 1608Sent by Rudolf II to the Tyrolean Alps to sketch mountain landscapes, aged 32. The resulting drawings of rocky gorges and waterfalls became source material for paintings he produced for decades.
4. 1620Settled in Utrecht at the age of 44 after years of court service in Prague and Vienna. He became known for lush flower paintings and animal scenes featuring exotic species from memory.
5. 1626Painted one of the most famous depictions of the dodo, aged 50, based on specimens he had likely seen in Rudolf's collection in Prague. The painting is a key document in the bird's visual history.
6. 1639Died in Utrecht aged 63, reportedly in poverty and mental distress. His paintings of paradise gardens and exotic animals remain prized for their intersection of art and natural history.

• What is Roelant Savery known for?+

  Roelant Savery is known as one of the few artists to have painted the dodo from life or from a live specimen in a menagerie. He also painted exotic birds and animals based on specimens in the menageries of Rudolf II in Prague, where he was court painter.
• Who was Roelant Savery?+

  Roelant Savery was born in Kortrijk, Flanders, in 1576 and later settled in Utrecht. Roelant Savery died in 1639.
• What was Roelant Savery's art style?+

  According to one passage, Roelant Savery's painting adheres to the style of late Mannerism, outmoded both in type and composition. Another passage notes that he delighted in richly detailed, lush, decorative views with an assortment of flora.