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Striped hyena fighting two dogs

Maker

(artist)
1686-1755

Title

Date of Production

(after) 1739

Medium

black and white chalk on blue laid paper, laid down

Dimensions

Height: 28.8 cm
Width: 43.8 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.2078

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

Hyenas, unknown in the Flemish repertory of hunts and combats, were novel to European eyes at the this time. As in human battle scenes, pictures of animals under attack revealed 'heroic' qualities. Oudry's drawing perfectly captures the furious energy of the hyena held at bay, though its portrayal is more decorative than lifelike. A similar subject appears in a series of paintings by Oudry depicting animals in Louis XV's menagerie at Versailles.

Provenance

possibly Charles François, marquis de Calvière (1693-1777); his sale, Chariot (Paris), 5 - 20 May 1779, lot 488; Gilbert Paignon-Dijonval (1708-1792); by descent to his nephew, George Guy, Earl of Warwick (1818-1893), L.2600; his estate sale, Christie’s, 20 - 21 May 1896, lot 248; purchased there by Richards; Sotheby's (London), 30 June 1925, lot 5; purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b; Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Captured on Paper, Animals in the Prints and Drawings Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 20/06/2002-11/08/2002

French Drawings: XVI-XIX Centuries, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 04/07/1991-06/10/1991

French 17th Century Drawings, Bristol City Art Gallery, Bristol, 1956 ...More

Old Masters from the Witt Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 01/01/1943-01/05/1943 ...Less

Literature

French Drawings: XVI-XIX Centuries, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1991
no. 38, p. 86
ill. on p. 87 (b&w) and np (colour)

Opperman, Hal N., Jean-Baptiste Oudry, New York and London 1977
no. D603

Duclaux, Lise, Musée du Louvre. Cabinet des Dessins. Inventaire général des dessins. École française, XII. Nadar-Ozanne, Paris 1975
under no. 236 ...More

Opperman, Hal, 'Some animal drawings by Jean-Baptiste Oudry' in 'Master Drawings', 1966 - pp. 384-409; IV
pp. 407-08n45
fig. 10

Locquin, J., ‘Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre de Jean-Baptiste Oudry peintre du roi (1686-1755)’ in ‘Archives de l’Art français’, 1912 - pp. i-viii, 1-209; VI
no. 686

Bénard, M., Cabinet de M. Paignon Dijonval, Paris 1810
no. 3221 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: Backing sheet: right centre: Strasburg lily. Countermark: left centre: “IV”.

Inscription: Verso (backing sheet): upper left corner, graphite, abraded: “L80”; centre, graphite: “Oudry”; lower right, two lines in graphite, erased and now mostly illegible: “[…] £ […] Cart / […] Cart //”; lower right edge, graphite: “Oudry 2078”.

Collector's mark: Recto: lower left corner, stamped in black ink: Earl of Warwick (L.2600). Verso (backing sheet): lower right corner, stamped in black ink: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

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