Theo
Active Member
I like paintings of animals.
Here's The Spotted Horse by Paulus Potter (1625-1654)
Young Bull by Paulus Potter
"In the work of Paulus Potter views of nature and animals are seen for their own sake, and not as a backdrop for human action. Potter can paint equally well the bright sunlight and the cool air, but his real fame lies with his penetrating portraits of animals. His best-known work is the life-size Young Bull, an unusual heroization of a single animal, a counterpart to the monumental trend of Ruisdael and Cuyp." *
Then there's Punishment of a Hunter by Paulus Potter. I'm sorry you can't see it too well in this pic, but here's a look. I don't like what happens to the hunter's dogs.....
"It was 'acquired'—looted might be nearer the mark—from Napoleon's empress Josephine in 1814, after the indescribably bloody French retreat from Russia. Consisting of two central panels and a dozen peripheral ones, and entitled Punishment of a Hunter, it depicts a bear and two wolves hauling a hunter before a tribunal consisting of an elephant, a ram, a leopard, and a lion. A fox holds down the bill of indictment with his paw. The hunter's cringing dogs are dragged behind him, by a bear and a boar. The later scene shows the hunter being roasted on a spit by his former victims, while his dog auxiliaries are hoisted skyward on a rope. In the peripheral panels we see creatures being shot, trapped, impaled, or hounded."*
Here's The Spotted Horse by Paulus Potter (1625-1654)
Young Bull by Paulus Potter
"In the work of Paulus Potter views of nature and animals are seen for their own sake, and not as a backdrop for human action. Potter can paint equally well the bright sunlight and the cool air, but his real fame lies with his penetrating portraits of animals. His best-known work is the life-size Young Bull, an unusual heroization of a single animal, a counterpart to the monumental trend of Ruisdael and Cuyp." *
Then there's Punishment of a Hunter by Paulus Potter. I'm sorry you can't see it too well in this pic, but here's a look. I don't like what happens to the hunter's dogs.....
"It was 'acquired'—looted might be nearer the mark—from Napoleon's empress Josephine in 1814, after the indescribably bloody French retreat from Russia. Consisting of two central panels and a dozen peripheral ones, and entitled Punishment of a Hunter, it depicts a bear and two wolves hauling a hunter before a tribunal consisting of an elephant, a ram, a leopard, and a lion. A fox holds down the bill of indictment with his paw. The hunter's cringing dogs are dragged behind him, by a bear and a boar. The later scene shows the hunter being roasted on a spit by his former victims, while his dog auxiliaries are hoisted skyward on a rope. In the peripheral panels we see creatures being shot, trapped, impaled, or hounded."*
