''Hunting'' (or ''Hunting Scene'') is a painting by Italian artist

Annibale Carracci Annibale Carracci ( , , ; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother Agostino Carracci, Agostino and cousin Ludovico Carracci, Ludovico (with whom the Ca ...

, painted before 1595 and given to

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

by Prince Camillo Pamphili in 1665. It is currently held and exhibited at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

History

The painting and its companion, ''

Fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

'', were included in

Charles Le Brun Charles Le Brun (; baptised 24 February 1619 – 12 February 1690) was a French Painting, painter, Physiognomy, physiognomist, Aesthetics, art theorist, and a director of several art schools of his time. He served as a court painter to Louis XIV, ...

's inventory in 1683, and in November 1695 they were in the apartments of

King Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monar ...

's younger brother. It was no doubt for this purpose that they were given two sumptuous gilt frames, each with attributes suited to the subject of the painting – among the finest examples of the art of frame-making in the time of Louis XIV. In 1955, when the varnish was being cleaned, the 19th century gilding covering the original gilding was removed – a task of some magnitude which was carried out by the French firm of Lebrun. This work, together with its companion, date from Carracci's Bolognese period, before he left for

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 1595 to paint at the Galleria Farnese. At this time he was extremely interested in

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

, and his experiments are a foreshadowing of

Poussin Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the Classicism, classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and ...

's classical compositions; but in these pictures he is exploring in a different direction, in the tradition of the Bassani, a family of painters whose studios continued to turn out landscapes which were prized all over

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. His interest was the

countryside In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically describ ...

. Without any religious theme as pretext, he painted two pure landscapes whose true subjects are the forest and the river, motivated by the themes of

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

. Therefore, Carracci was able to show nature animated with the life of the

aristocracy Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense Economy, economic, Politics, political, and soc ...

and of ordinary people. The composition follows the visual device of division into compartments. Along with the Galleria Farnese, these two thematic paintings are among Carracci's masterpieces, and have always been much admired by artists. Manet found inspiration in the ''

'', and the ''Hunting'' has been copied by

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( ; ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His 1893 work ''The Scream'' has become one of Western art's most acclaimed images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dread of inher ...

and Rouault.D. Benati & E. Riccomini, ''Annibale Carracci'',

Mondadori Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In 19 ...

Electa (2006), ''s.v. "Fishing Scene"''.

Footnotes

References

Catholic Encyclopedia: Carracci
*H. Loyrette, ''The Louvre: All the Paintings'', Black Dog & Leventhal (2011) * * * C. Dempsey: ''Annibale Carracci and the beginnings of baroque style'', Harvard 1977, 2nd ed. Fiesole 2000. * A. W. A. Boschloo: ''Annibale Carracci in Bologna: visible reality in art after the Council of Trent'', 's-Gravenhage 1974. * C. Goldstein: ''Visual fact over verbal fiction: a study of the Carracci and the criticism, theory, and practice of art in Renaissance and baroque Italy'', Cambridge 1988. * D. Posner: Annibale Carracci: a study in the reform of Italian painting around 1590, 2 vol., New York 1971. * S. Ginzburg: Annibale Carracci a Roma: gli affreschi di Palazzo Farnese, Roma 2000. * C. Loisel: ''Inventaire général des dessins italiens'', vol. 7: Ludovico, Agostino, Annibale Carracci, (Musée du Louvre: Cabinet des Dessins) Paris 2004. * B. Bohn: Ludovico Carracci and the art of drawing, London 2004. * Annibale Carracci, catalogo della mostra a cura di D. Benati, E. Riccomini, Bologna-Roma 2006–2007. * M. C. Terzaghi: Caravaggio, Annibale Carracci, Guido Reni tra le ricevute del Banco Herrera & Costa, Roma 2007. * C. Robertson: ''The Invention of Annibale Carracci'' (Studi della Bibliotheca Hertziana, 4), Milano 2008.

External links

Carracci's ''Hunting'' on the Museum SyndicateAnnibale Carracci artistic context, technique and artworksAnnibale Carracci at the WikiGallery.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunting (Annibale Carracci) Paintings by Annibale Carracci 1590s paintings Paintings in the Louvre by Italian artists Dogs in art Hunting in art