d'HONDECOETER, Dutch family of artists of Flemish origin
Nicolaes (Jansz.) de Hondecoutre I (d. 1609) from Mechelen is cited in 1585–86 as a painter in Antwerp, but his work is unknown. He moved his family to Delft before 1601. Two sons became painters: Hans de Hondecoutre, otherwise unidentified, and Gillis de Hondecoutre, a landscape and animal painter in Utrecht and Amsterdam. Gillis's son Gijsbert de Hondecoutre (1604–53) 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. Another son, Nicolaes de Hondecoeter II (1605–c. 1671), also became a painter. 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. The relationship of other painters named de Hondecoutre in Delft and later Amsterdam is unclear.
