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group goes back at least to 1730, and probably earlier.21 The animal
that gave its name to the panel called Le Renard is a fox guarding a
dead partridge, whose origin seems datable to about 1727.22 Le Butor,
one of the long panels, repeats a painting of a poodle seizing a bittern
(1725; Stockholm, Nationalmuseum). A painting representing a bulldog frightening a wild swan (1731; Geneva, Musee d'Art et d'Histoire)
served as the model of another of these tapestries, as did the portrait of
Lise, one of Louis XV's hunting dogs, pointing two pheasants (1727;
Chateau de Fontainebleau).
The Fables of La Fontaine present a more complicated problem,
since different subjects seem to have been combined into larger panels
from time to time, and often with variations. All of those that I have
been able to identify are, in any case, taken from the complete set of
drawings for La Fontaine that Oudry executed between 1729 and 1734
(New York, private coll.).
The existence of a number of preparatory drawings for the remaining three sets is proof that Oudry, in designing them, began the creative process anew. Some of them are signed and dated one or two
years before the completion of the cartoons, and most show significant
variations from the final compositions, which again indicates the
thought and attention they received. The Amusements champetres
were begun in 1728, the date of a finished preparatory drawing for
La Main chaude, acquired from the artist by Count Carl Gustaf Tessin
in about 1740, and now in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm23 (fig. 4).
Two more drawings, also in Stockholm but not from Tessin's collection,
are dated 172924 (figs. 5, 6); they too are certainly preparations for this
21 For a discussion of this group, often repeated in the artist's work, see H. N.
Opperman, "Some Animal Drawings by Jean-Baptiste Oudry," Master Drawings, IV, 1966, pp. 390-94.
23 Inv. no. 2890/1863. Black and white chalk on blue paper, 286 by 440 mm.
Signed and dated in ink, below center: ] B. Oudry 1728. Jean Locquin, Catalogue raisonne de I'oeuvre de Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Paris, 1912 (Archives de I'Art
francais, nouv. per., VI, pp. 1-209) no. 1258; Jean Vergnet-Ruiz, "Oudry," in
Louis Dimier, Les peintres francais du XVIW Steele, II, Paris and Brussels, 1930,
pp. 135-94, no. II, 6. Exhibited most recently in Fern Sekler Fransk Konst, Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, 1958, no. 237 (q.v. for further bibliography). A coun-
terproof is in the Ashmolean Museum (K. T. Parker, Catalogue of the Collection
of Drawings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1938, I, no. 537). The latter
drawing is quite probably the one from the Paignon-Dijonval collection (catalogue by Benard, Paris, 1810, no. 3235; 271 by 433 mm.; cited by Locquin,
Catalogue . . . , no. 1267).
24 Inv. no. 12/1912 (fig. 5), 285 by 293 mm.; and 13/1912 (fig. 6), 309 by 275
mm.   Both black and white chalk on blue paper; given to the Nationalmuseum
Contributors Cooney, John Ducey
Contents Observations on the Tapestry Designs of J.-B. Oudry for Beauvais (1726-1736); A Hittite Mother and Child Statuette
Artists Oudry, Jean-Baptiste (French, 1686-1755)
List of Illustrations Oudry. Le Limier. Private Collection, England; Oudry. Fox Hunt. Present whereabouts unknown; Beauvais Tapestry, after Oudry. Fox Hunt. Residenzmuseum, Munich; Oudry. La Main chaude. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm; Oudry. Pastoral Subject. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm; Oudry. Pastoral Subject. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm; Oudry. Le Pied de Boeuf and Le Colin-maillard. Private Collection, Paris; Oudry.. The Story of Achelous. Metropolitan Museum, New York; Oudry. The Catch of Glaucus. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Oudry. Horse and Swan in a landscape. Private Collection, New York; Oudry. The Death of Orpheus. Kongelige Kobberstiksamling, Copenhagen; Oudry. The Palace of Circe. Oberlin; Oudry. The Palace of Circe. Claude Aubry Collection, Paris; Oudry, The Palace of Circe. Present whereabouts unknown; Hittite, Mother and Child, bronze, ca. 1250-1200 B.C. Oberlin; Hittite, Mother and Child (actual size)
Month/Season Winter
Transcript group goes back at least to 1730, and probably earlier.21 The animal that gave its name to the panel called Le Renard is a fox guarding a dead partridge, whose origin seems datable to about 1727.22 Le Butor, one of the long panels, repeats a painting of a poodle seizing a bittern (1725; Stockholm, Nationalmuseum). A painting representing a bulldog frightening a wild swan (1731; Geneva, Musee d'Art et d'Histoire) served as the model of another of these tapestries, as did the portrait of Lise, one of Louis XV's hunting dogs, pointing two pheasants (1727; Chateau de Fontainebleau). The Fables of La Fontaine present a more complicated problem, since different subjects seem to have been combined into larger panels from time to time, and often with variations. All of those that I have been able to identify are, in any case, taken from the complete set of drawings for La Fontaine that Oudry executed between 1729 and 1734 (New York, private coll.). The existence of a number of preparatory drawings for the remaining three sets is proof that Oudry, in designing them, began the creative process anew. Some of them are signed and dated one or two years before the completion of the cartoons, and most show significant variations from the final compositions, which again indicates the thought and attention they received. The Amusements champetres were begun in 1728, the date of a finished preparatory drawing for La Main chaude, acquired from the artist by Count Carl Gustaf Tessin in about 1740, and now in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm23 (fig. 4). Two more drawings, also in Stockholm but not from Tessin's collection, are dated 172924 (figs. 5, 6); they too are certainly preparations for this 21 For a discussion of this group, often repeated in the artist's work, see H. N. Opperman, "Some Animal Drawings by Jean-Baptiste Oudry," Master Drawings, IV, 1966, pp. 390-94. 22 Ibid. 23 Inv. no. 2890/1863. Black and white chalk on blue paper, 286 by 440 mm. Signed and dated in ink, below center: ] B. Oudry 1728. Jean Locquin, Catalogue raisonne de I'oeuvre de Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Paris, 1912 (Archives de I'Art francais, nouv. per., VI, pp. 1-209) no. 1258; Jean Vergnet-Ruiz, "Oudry," in Louis Dimier, Les peintres francais du XVIW Steele, II, Paris and Brussels, 1930, pp. 135-94, no. II, 6. Exhibited most recently in Fern Sekler Fransk Konst, Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, 1958, no. 237 (q.v. for further bibliography). A coun- terproof is in the Ashmolean Museum (K. T. Parker, Catalogue of the Collection of Drawings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1938, I, no. 537). The latter drawing is quite probably the one from the Paignon-Dijonval collection (catalogue by Benard, Paris, 1810, no. 3235; 271 by 433 mm.; cited by Locquin, Catalogue . . . , no. 1267). 24 Inv. no. 12/1912 (fig. 5), 285 by 293 mm.; and 13/1912 (fig. 6), 309 by 275 mm. Both black and white chalk on blue paper; given to the Nationalmuseum 57
Observations on the Tapestry...
A Hittite Mother and Child...
List of Masters Theses 1923-1968
Baldwin Seminars 1951-1969
Observations on the Tapestry Designs of J.-B. Oudry for Beauvais (1726-1736)
A Hittite Mother and Child Statuette