A Taxidermy Peacock

CHENG Yuzheng
97 x 82 cm
Oil on canvas
2025~2026
6385

In this work, the foreground is composed of a figure, a peacock specimen, and a pet dog, forming a pyramidal composition. The space within the work is simplified as much as possible into geometric planes. The artist applied multiple layers of glazing to the scenery outside the window, making it soft and hazy, creating a contrast with the sense of order formed by the stable structure of the foreground. This is the influence of Italian Renaissance portraiture, especially Leonardo da Vinci’s Saint Anne — da Vinci’s use of the special “sfumato” technique allows the distant landscape to be not merely a simulation of reality, but a spiritual expression that transcends the earthly world. The artist hopes that through this subjective treatment of the landscape, the work can break free from the constraints of naturalism, forming a surreal echo or resonance with the peacock specimen in the foreground, and thereby achieving a strange, supernatural atmosphere, as if one were surrounded by the peculiar air of a natural history museum.