The Threatened Swan
A larger than life swan lifts itself with threatening, out-stretched wings. Hissing fiercely it defends its nest against the approaching danger: the dog swimming in from the right. The dog seems to have designs on the eggs in the nest. The movement of the swan is extreme; its feathers fly up around it. The painter Jan Asselijn has convincingly depicted this spectacle, it looks just like a swan rising up in sudden anger. Through using a low viewpoint he has made the swan tower above its surroundings. This makes the scene even more impressive.

Symbolism/Allegory
The black dog in this scene can be seen as evil threatening the innocent (symbolised by the white swan). Whether or not the painter intended this is not certain. However, later owners of the painting did see the symbolism. They added the inscription: ‘the enemy of the state’ next to the dog, ‘the pensionary’ beside the swan and ‘Holland’ beside the threatened eggs. The texts refer to pensionary Johan de Witt, who defended Holland against the enemy, England.

Jan Asselijn (after 1610-1652)
Jan Asselijn’s background was French. In 1621 he moved with his family from Dieppe to Amsterdam. With Jan Both and Jan Baptist Weenix, Asselijn was one of the foremost Dutch Italianate painters. He lived and worked in Rome for seven years, from 1635, where he was a member of the so-called ‘schildersbent’ society of Northern European artists. Asselijn’s nickname at the time was ‘krabbetje’, because of his crippled right hand. Asselijn painted mainly landscapes with ruins, shepherds and animals, panoramas, harbours and riverscapes. After returning to Holland in the 1640s, Asselijn continued painting Italianate canvases. In addition, he also began painting Dutch subjects, using the golden light of Italy.

Source: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam