Jean-Baptiste Oudry

Jean-Baptiste Oudry (Paris 1686-1755 Beauvais) A wolf hunt oil on canvas 6 5/8 x 9 7/8 in. (16.9 x 25 cm.) Collection of Louis XV as of 1746. This vigorous sketch is a rare compositional study in oils for one of Oudry's final masterpieces, the great Wolf Hunt of 1746 (Musée de la Chasse à tir et de la Fauconnerie, Gien), a vast and dramatic canvas ordered by Lenorment de Tournehem, the surveyor of the king's buildings, for installation in the dining room of Louis XV's apartments at the royal hunting lodge at La Muette, where it remained until the Revolution. As this was a royal commission from its inception, the present oil sketch would have been painted by order of the king as the first stage in the process leading to the final composition, as noted by Hal Opperman (in correspondence, 7 May 2007). According to Opperman, this is the only such work known to him that is 'an oil sketch that develops the compositional idea for one of Oudry's large hunt subjects. It is unique in the way it reveals the artist's imagination at work in the context of a prestigious commission.' He further observes that 'despite the absence of earlier documentation I have no reason to believe it is anything but an authentic autograph work by Oudry.' X-ray examinations of the sketch made in 2007 reveal significant changes made in the sketch as Oudry developed his final composition. The subject of this particular hunt is out of the ordinary in that it depicts an actual wolf, of monstrous size, that had been taken by the king and his hunting party near Versailles. The four dogs of the royal pack shown surrounding the wolf belonged to Louis XV and were painted from life; they were described in the livret of the Paris Salon of 1746 (no. 41) as including two greyhounds from Ireland and two long-haired dogs from the Kingdom of Naples. A finished drawing on blue paper by Oudry, signed and dated 1746, depicts the principal group in the painting; it was in the collection of Paignon-Dijonval, but its present whereabouts are unknown.

DescDE Oudry, Jean-Baptiste 1686 Paris - 1755 Beauvais - Umkreis Porträt eines Terriers. Öl auf Leinwand. ????. 40,5 x 85,5cm. Rahmen. Provenienz: Privatsammlung Rheinland. DescEN Oudry, Jean-Baptiste 1686 Paris - 1755 Beauvais - artist's circle Portrait of a Terrier. Oil on canvas. ????. 40,5 x 85,5cm. Framed. Provenance: Private collection, Rhineland.

Jean-Baptiste Oudry (Paris 1686–1755 Beauvais) Still life in with a thistle in bloom and fruit, signed and dated lower left: peint par/J. B. Oudry/1717, oil on canvas, 87.5 x 83.3 cm, framed Provenance: Galerie Jürg Stuker auction, Berne, 20-27.11.1958, lot 4649; Galerie Jürg Stuker, Berne, 23.5.1997, lot 4280; Nagel auction, Stuttgart, 21.9.2006, lot 1666; Austrian private collection. Literature: Hal N. Opperman, Jean-Baptiste Oudry, New York and London 1977, p. 541, cat. raisonné no. P478. Thistles, which are not depicted in still life painting very frequently, are a symbol of resistance in the sense of ‘No-one touches me without being punished’’’’. It was in this vein that they were included, for instance, in the coat-of-arms of the capital of Lorraine, Nancy. They are still used as an emblem of Scotland today. The combination of a thistle with fruit was depicted again by Jean-Baptiste Oudry in 1721. The picture ended up in the collection of Tsarina Catherine the Great and is held today in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow.

Lot Description Jean-Baptiste Oudry (Paris 1686-1755 Beauvais) The Wolf and the Lamb oil on canvas 41 x 49½ in. (104.1 x 125.7 cm.) Lot Condition Report I confirm that I have read this Important Notice and agree to its terms. View Condition Report Provenance Private collection, Limoges. View Lot Notes ›

Jean-Baptiste Oudry (Paris 1686-1755 Beauvais) A horse surprised by a swan in a landscape: a scene from Ovid's Metamorphoses black and white chalk on blue paper 10 x 12 5/8 in. (25.4 x 32.2 cm.) with Adrian Merz, Ambleside, cat., 11-24 June 1960, no. 32. Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, New York, 11 March 1964, lot 241. with Schaeffer Galleries, New York, 1965. Christian Humann; Sotheby's, New York, 30 April 1982, lot 45. H. Opperman, 'Observations on the tapestry designs of J.-B. Oudry for Beauvais (1726-1736)', Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin, XXVI, no. 2, 1969, pp. 66-7, illus. A. Dobrzycka, 'Jean-Baptiste Oudry: scena mitologiczna u grobu Faetona', Studia muzealne, Poznan, 10, 1974, fig. 2. H. Opperman, Jean-Baptiste Oudry, New York and London, 1977, II, D. 154. H. Opperman, in Jean-Baptiste Oudry, exhib. cat., Paris, Grand Palais, 1982-3, p. 154, fig. 73b. P.-F. Bertrand, 'Les sujets de la tenture des Métamorphoses en animaux d'Oudry', Bulletin de la Societé de l'Histoire de l'Art français, 1991, pp. 97, 105, note 18. A study for the tapestry Ocyrhoe transformed into a mare which Oudry designed as part of a series based on Ovid's Metamorphoses, and which was woven in 1734 in the tapestry factory at Beauvais. The tapestries are now lost. The subject, from Ovid's Metamorphoses, recounts the story of Chiron's daughter transformed into a mare scared by Cygnus himself transformed into a swan. To the right is the tomb of Phaeton, and the three sisters of the latter transformed into trees.