Karl Wilhelm de Hamilton (Austrian, 1668-1754)
A Shrike Perching on a Branch
Gouache and watercolor on vellum
ca. 1740
Vellum size: 9 x 7 ¼ in.

The third son of James de Hamilton (circa 1640-1720), a Scottish painter working in Brussels, Karl Wilhelm de Hamilton was part of a large family of artists working in the late 17th and early 18th Centuries. His two brothers, Philipp Ferdinand (circa 1664-1750) and Johann Georg (1672-1737), both worked in Vienna, with Philipp Ferdinand working for Emperor Joseph I, Charles VI, and Empress Maria Theresa. Karl Wilhelm worked mainly in Germany, first in Baden-Baden and later in Augsburg, where he served as court painter to Bishop Alexander Sigismund von der Pfalz-Neuburg. Karl Wilhelm specialized in ‘forest-floor’ still life landscapes and, in particular, bird subjects.

Paintings by Karl Wilhelm de Hamilton are in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Dijon, the Staatliche Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart, and elsewhere.