PARROTS: A Look into Their Presence and Meaning

Throughout art history, certain objects and animals have been understood to hold specific meanings or symbolize virtues. One such animal is the Parrot. There is a variety of ways the presence of parrots have been interpreted. In mythology, parrots were viewed as messengers or intermediaries to communicate from humanity to the gods. Because the parrot has the unique ability to speak, in medieval times, it was associated with the Immaculate Conception. This is because it was previously believed that the conception occurred through the ear, through the Word. It was also seen as a very clean animal and therefore associated with virginity, purity, and innocence all of which are qualities of Mary. Therefore, it is commonly displayed with the Virgin Mary and used to symbolize her maternal purity. Because the animal is exotic, it may be used to indicate that the image is located in the East. Since it would be costly to own, it was often placed in images to allude to the wealth or status of the patron. In this exhibition we explore artworks that contain these exotic birds, and attempt to understand what the artists were presenting through the presence of the parrot.

Nicolas de Largillierre, Portrait of a Woman, Possibly Madame Claude Lambert de Thorigny, and an Enslaved Servant, 1696, 

Oil on Canvas, Metropolitan Museum of National Art. 03.37.2

In this painting we see the wife of Claude Lambert de Thorigny, president of the Chambre des Comptes and owner of the Hôtel Lambert in Paris. The woman is clearly wealthy. This is shown through the presence of a servant in the corner, her extravagant dress and hair, the exotic flowers, and the presence of a parrot. At this time in history, only the wealthiest nobles were able to afford parrots because they were foreign birds that had to be imported. Having a parrot as a pet and displayed in the image shows the woman’s elite status and wealth.

Jan Van Eyck, Madonna with the Canon van der Paele, 1436,

Oil on wood, Groeninge Museum

Being 122 x 157 cm, this is Jan Van Eyck’s second largest painting. In this scene we see Mary with Saint Donatian of Reims, Saint George, and Canon Van Der Paele who is the commissioner of the painting. Mary is holding baby Jesus. Together the mother and child are holding a green parrot. As is commonly seen in Van Eyck’s work, the artist uses numerous iconographic symbols. In this painting the parrot symbolizes the maternal virginity and purity of Mary. This is consistent with the view that the bird was understood during the fifteenth century to symbolize Mary’s Immaculate Conception.

Edouard Manet, Young Lady in 1866, 1866, 

Oil on Canvas, Metropolitan Museum of National Art, 89.21.3

In this painting we see the same model from Manet’s Olympia and Luncheon on the Grass, looking off into the distance. She is standing there wearing a silk dressing gown, and is accompanied by a parrot on its stand. Recent scholars have interpreted that this work is an appeal to the senses. The nosegay held by her nose is used to express smell, while the orange at the bottom of the bird stand expresses taste. In the scene, the woman is fingering a monocle in order to represent sight and touch. The role the parrot plays in the scene is to symbolize hearing. The bird is placed at a height next to the woman where she may be able to interact with it, and hear its speech, which is a unique feature of this animal.

Valentine Cameron Prinsep, The Lady of the Tooti-Nameh or The Lengend of the Parrot, 1865, 

Oil on Canvas, Private Collection

In this painting is depicted a beautiful, fair skinned woman, reclining back in a large chair, and holding an exotic parrot. From the interior of the room as well as the parrot, we infer that the location of the room is in the East. The artist, who was born in India, through this painting, tells an Old Persian tale. In the narrative the parrot is an embodied enchantress sent to the woman to tell her stories and distract her from temptations while her husband is away on business.

Gustave Courbet, Woman with a Parrot, 1866, 

Oil on Canvas, Metropolitan Museum of National Art, 29.100.57

In this controversial artwork, we see a pale woman draped across a velvet couch with an extended arm that creates a perch for a parrot to land on her hand. The image was view by original audiences as distasteful and provocative. However, since Courbet was a realist, it was possible that the audience did not interpret the image the way the artist meant for it to be. With this image, we find Courbet almost mocking the traditional view of the academic painters that each thing in the image had to have an intended symbolism. The parrot, which is a usual symbol of purity, is clearly not interpreted in this way for this painting. Rather, while the woman is located in a half-outside location, the bird may have flown in to simply show that they are located in in some exotic location, or that the woman is wealthy and can therefore afford such an exotic creature.

Frida Kahlo, Me and My Parrots, 1941, 

Oil on Canvas, Harold H. Stream Collection, LA

The iconic, feminist painter, Frida Kahlo, often painted her pet parrots in her self-portraits. In this image, we see the artist, herself, with four of the Eastern birds. Clearly the woman and the birds are not members of western culture. In this image, the birds are shown to be feather-pickers, which is not a common characteristic of this species of parrot. It has been argued that the picked feathers symbolize the state of unrest that their owner’s life was currently in. She has just recently remarried, but was having an affair with a photographer. The unhealthy states of the birds’ coats were there to portray the current agitation in Kahlo’s life.

-Elzabē Uys