This essay explores the aesthetic and political potential of eighteenth‐century French hunting portraiture through an analysis of Jean‐Baptiste Oudry's Henri‐Camille, chevalier de Beringhen (1722). ...The portrait's eloquent deployment of human and animal bodies furthers both the artist's and the sitter's ambitions. Beringhen uses the portrait to formulate a version of elite masculinity that emphasized virility, personal sovereignty, and animal instincts, creating a model for political opposition to the absolute monarchy. Oudry uses the portrait to work out a visual idiom of striving bodies and sensual appeal that slyly suggests an equivalence between human and animal. This analysis of Oudry's portrait of Beringhen, and the arts of the hunt from which it emerges, presents an alternative to the conventional narrative of eighteenth‐century French aesthetics and political culture – one that is less playful, less gender‐fluid, and less human.
The 20,280 acre forest at Compiègne were considered the most beautiful hunting grounds in the royal domain of Louis XV. The chateau was so small that it could barely house the royal family and ...attendants; members of the court and gentlemen of the hunt had to find housing elsewhere. This decentralization of the courtiers provided him with relative privacy and a relaxation of court ceremony which must have been very appealing to Louis XV, who was notoriously timid and ill at ease in the pomp and crowds of the court. Compiègne offered a respite from the more royal role he had to play at Versailles. The opportunity for respite resonated powerfully for Louis; he must have experienced considerable stress in his life. He valued his privacy and preferred an intimate group of confidants to large, noisy crowds of courtiers and subjects.
Provider: - Institution: Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art - Data provided by Europeana Collections- s.d.- 18e siècle- Nombre de vues du document : 1- Date de numérisation : 2002- All metadata ...published by Europeana are available free of restriction under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. However, Europeana requests that you actively acknowledge and give attribution to all metadata sources including Europeana
Provider: - Institution: - Data provided by Europeana Collections- Date de numérisation : 2002- Nombre de vues du document : 1- All metadata published by Europeana are available free of restriction ...under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. However, Europeana requests that you actively acknowledge and give attribution to all metadata sources including Europeana
Provider: - Institution: - Data provided by Europeana Collections- Beschriftung: Jean Bapt. OUDRY / Erlegter Kranich. ~1745 / schwerin, Mus.- All metadata published by Europeana are available free of ...restriction under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. However, Europeana requests that you actively acknowledge and give attribution to all metadata sources including Europeana
Provider: - Institution: - Data provided by Europeana Collections- Référence bibliographique : Deloynes, 1231- Transcription ms. par Deloynes de commentaires sur Jean-Baptiste Oudry- All metadata ...published by Europeana are available free of restriction under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. However, Europeana requests that you actively acknowledge and give attribution to all metadata sources including Europeana
