Triple étude d'un paon

Dated 1662 and held in the Department of Paintings at the Louvre, this triple study of a peacock is one of Boel's most formally innovative works — presenting the same animal from three different perspectives on a single canvas, a practice rooted in the artist's working method as a preparatory draughtsman for the Gobelins tapestry workshops. Such multi-view studies allowed tapestry designers to select the most suitable pose for their compositions and gave weavers multiple reference points for the animal's complex anatomy. The Louvre's holding of this work alongside Boel's drawings reflects his dual status as painter and practising studio professional in the French royal artistic administration. Peacocks were among the most prestigious birds in aristocratic gardens and a touchstone of technical difficulty in Flemish decorative painting — their extended tail feathers with their ocelli demanded the most painstaking handling.

Three peacock poses on a single canvas transforms the support into a working document rather than a unified compositional statement — the three figures are juxtaposed for reference rather than integrated into a spatial scene. Eye-spot rendering on the tail feathers requires concentric brushstroke rings in precise colour sequences, from dark outer ring through warm brown to the iridescent blue-green centre.