HONDECOETER, Gijsbert Gillisz. de

Dutch painter, member of a Dutch family of artists of Flemish origin. He was the son of Gillis de Hondecoutre, a landscape and animal painter in Utrecht and Amsterdam. Gijsbert followed his father, concentrating on sober views of barnyard fowl, and was a member of the Utrecht Guild of St Luke (1626-32), and his daughter Josina married the landscape painter Jan Baptist Weenix. Gijsbert’s son Melchior d’Hondecoeter gained prominence for his more elegant avian themes. From the late 1620s the Dutch spelling of the family name was preferred.