Jean-Baptiste Oudry (; 17 March 1686 – 30 April 1755) was a French

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

painter, engraver, and

tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...

designer. He is particularly well known for his naturalistic pictures of animals and his hunt pieces depicting game. His son, Jacques-Charles Oudry, was also a painter.

Biography

Jean-Baptiste Oudry was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, the son of Jacques Oudry, a painter and

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationshi ...

, and his wife Nicole Papillon,Bryan,1886-9 relative of the engraver Jean-Baptiste-Michel Papillon. His father was a director of the

Académie de Saint-Luc The Académie de Saint-Luc was the guild of painters and sculptors set up in Paris in 1391, and dissolved in 1776.Alfred Fierro (1996). ''Histoire et Dictionnaire de Paris''. Paris: Robert Laffont. It was set up by the Provost of Paris in 1391, a ...

art school, which Oudry joined. At first, Oudry concentrated on

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

ure, and he became a pupil and perhaps a collaborator of

Nicolas de Largillière Nicolas de Largillière (; 10 October 1656 – 20 March 1746) was a French portrait painter, born in Paris. Biography Early life Largillière's father, a merchant, took him to Antwerp at the age of three. As a boy, he spent nearly two years in ...

from 1707 to 1712. He graduated at only 22 years of age, on 21 May 1708, at the same time as his two older brothers. The next year, he married Marie–Marguerite Froissé, the daughter of a ''miroitier'' (a mirror-maker) to whom he gave lessons in painting. Oudry became an assistant professor at Académie de Saint-Luc in 1714, and professor on 1 July 1717. He was inducted as a member of the prestigious

Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture The Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (; en, "Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture") was founded in 1648 in Paris, France. It was the premier art institution of France during the latter part of the Ancien Régime until it was abol ...

in 1719, and was engaged as a professor there in 1743. After producing mainly portraits, Oudry started to produce

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

paintings of fruits or animals, as well as paintings of religious subjects, such as the Nativity,

Saint Giles Saint Giles (, la, Aegidius, french: Gilles), also known as Giles the Hermit, was a hermit or monk active in the lower Rhône most likely in the 6th century. Revered as a saint, his cult became widely diffused but his hagiography is mostly lege ...

, and the

Adoration of the Magi The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, ...

. In the 1720s Oudry was commissioned by Noël-Antoine de Mérou, director of the Royal Beauvais Tapestry Manufactory to create the designs for what has come to be one of the most iconic series of tapestries of the period. The series was called

The Pastoral Amusements ''The Pastoral Amusements'', (french: Les Amusements champêtres) is a series of tapestries designed between 1720 and 1730 by Jean-Baptiste Oudry for Noël-Antoine de Mérou, then director of the Royal Beauvais Tapestry Manufactory. The first pr ...

, or Les Amusements Champêtres. Through his friend, Jean-Baptiste Massé, a portrait-painter and miniaturist, Oudry was introduced to the Marquis de Beringhen, hereditary master of the royal stables, for whom he painted a pair of paintings in 1727, followed by a suite of landscapes in the Flemish manner. Through this connection, he was commissioned to produce the painting that made his reputation, ''Louis XV hunting a deer in the Forest of Saint-Germain'' (1730; now at Toulouse). Subsequently, he was commissioned to produce numerous works for the King, who was passionate about the hunt and appointed Oudry Painter-in-Ordinary of the Royal Hunt, in which capacity he produced portraits of dead game, the day's kill. Oudry was granted a workshop in the

Tuileries The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from ...

and an apartment in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

M. Hultz, an adviser to the ''Académie de Peinture'', commissioned Oudry to produce a ''buffet'', or still-life combining silver plates and ewers, fruit and game; the work was exhibited in the Salon of 1737. Oudry timidly asked for ten

pistole Pistole is the French name given to a Spanish gold coin in use from 1537; it was a doubloon or double escudo, the gold unit. The name was also given to the Louis d'Or of Louis XIII of France, and to other European gold coins of about the value ...

s for his work, but Hultz valued it much higher, insisting on paying twenty-five. Oudry was also commissioned to produce a ''buffet'' for Louis XV (exhibited in the Salon of 1743), that went to the

château de Choisy The Château de Choisy was a royal French residence in the commune of Choisy-le-Roi in the Val-de-Marne department, not far from Paris. The commune was given its present name by Louis XV, when he purchased the manor of Choisy and its château in Oc ...

, the King's favoured hunting residence. Hultz recommended Oudry to Louis Fagon (1680–1744), an ''

intendant des finances The Intendants des finances were intendants or agents of France's financial administration under the Ancien Régime. History The role of intendant des finances was created in 1552 as a 'commission' or committee, to manage the subsidies raised for ...

'' and book collector, and Oudry decorated his houses in

Vanves Vanves () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe and the tenth in France History On 1 January 1860, the city of Paris w ...

and

Fontenay-aux-Roses Fontenay-aux-Roses () is a Communes of France, commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. In 1880 a girls school École Normale Supérieure was opened in the town. It was one of ...

with

arabesques The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...

, flowers and birds. Fagon was charged with reviving the fortunes of the tapestry manufactory of

Beauvais Beauvais ( , ; pcd, Bieuvais) is a city and commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise département, in the Hauts-de-France region, north of Paris. The commune of Beauvais had a population of 56,020 , making it the most populous ...

, which had flourished under Colbert, and he gave the task to Oudry and his associate, Besnier, in 1734. Oudry succeeded in his tasks, becoming wealthy in the process. His success at Beauvais led to a further appointment as inspector at the

Gobelins manufactory The Gobelins Manufactory () is a historic tapestry factory in Paris, France. It is located at 42 avenue des Gobelins, near Les Gobelins métro station in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. It was originally established on the site as a medieval ...

in 1736, where his works were copied as cartoons for

tapestries Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...

. Through most of the 1730s, he concentrated mainly on producing designs for tapestries, notably the nine ''Chasses Royales'' Gobelins series (1733–46), first woven for the

Château de Compiègne The Château de Compiègne is a French château, a royal residence built for Louis XV and restored by Napoleon. Compiègne was one of three seats of royal government, the others being Versailles and Fontainebleau. It is located in Compiègne ...

(and reunited in Compiègne), for which the cartoons were later framed into the ''boiseries'' in an interior decor for Charles X at

Fontainebleau Fontainebleau (; ) is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the ''arrondissement ...

, 1828. Oudry used a

camera obscura A camera obscura (; ) is a darkened room with a aperture, small hole or lens at one side through which an image is 3D projection, projected onto a wall or table opposite the hole. ''Camera obscura'' can also refer to analogous constructions su ...

in an attempt to speed up the process of producing landscapes, but abandoned it when he saw that the perspective and the effects of light and shade did not appear correct. Although Oudry produced excellent scenes of animals and of hunting, he also painted portraits, histories, landscapes, fruits and flowers; he imitated

bas relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

s in monotone tints '' en camaïeu'', used

pastel A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those use ...

s, and created

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

s. He was often sent examples of rare birds to draw. El conde de Castelblanco (Oudry)

An important patron was Christian Ludwig II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who commissioned two pairs of paintings from Oudry: ''Three Does Watching Two Stags Fighting'' and ''A Family of Roe Deer''; and ''A Boar Hunt'' and ''A Wolf Hunt'', both delivered in 1734. He later purchased a series of large paintings of animals from Louis XV's menagerie at Versailles. Oudry's initial motive for painting these works is obscure. When exhibited at the Paris Salon, they had been described as having been painted for the French king; however the commission seems to come through the king's surgeon,

François Gigot de la Peyronie François Gigot de la Peyronie (; 15 January 1678 – 25 April 1747) was a French surgeon who was born in Montpellier, France. His name is associated with a condition known as Peyronie's disease. As a teenager, he studied philosophy and surgery ...

, who had engravings made after them, and in a letter to Christian dated March 1750, Oudry wrote that they had become available for sale due to de La Peyronie's death. In addition to the portraits of the animals from the royal menagerie, Christian also bought Oudry's life-size painting of "

Clara Clara may refer to: Organizations * CLARA, Latin American academic computer network organization * Clara.Net, a European ISP * Consolidated Land and Rail Australia, a property development consortium People * Clara (given name), a feminine giv ...

", an Indian rhinoceros which had been exhibited all around Europe to great public interest.Frank, in . The works are still at Schwerin. He turned down offers to work for the Czar Peter the Great and the

King of Denmark The monarchy of Denmark is a constitutional political system, institution and a historic office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes Denmark proper and the autonomous administrative division, autonomous territories of the Faroe ...

, preferring to remain in France, where he maintained a large studio of assistants. Oudry lost some of his responsibilities when Fagon was replaced by de Trudaine. He suffered two strokes in quick succession. The second left him

paralysed Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 50 ...

and he died shortly thereafter in

(in present-day

Oise Oise ( ; ; pcd, Oése) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 ...

). He was buried in the Church of Saint-Thomas in Beauvais. His epitaph on the stone was lost when the church was demolished in 1795, but was later found and placed in the Church of Saint-Étienne. Two exhibitions curated by Hal N. Opperman, first at the

Grand Palais The Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées ( en, Great Palace of the Elysian Fields), commonly known as the Grand Palais (English: Great Palace), is a historic site, exhibition hall and museum complex located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arro ...

, Paris, October 1982 – January 1983, and then in a travelling exhibition in the United States, 1983, encouraged a reassessment of this purely French portraitist and

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

painter.

Gallery

Oil paintings

File:Jean-Baptiste Oudry - Adoration des Mages, 1717.jpg, ''Adoration of the Magi'' (1717), 290 x 260 cm., Église Saint-Georges File:Still Life with a Spaniel Chasing Ducks ( Water ) (Jean-Baptiste Oudry) - Nationalmuseum - 17871 (cropped).tif, ''Still Life with a Spaniel Chasing Ducks "Water"'' (1719), 141 x 114 cm.,

Nationalmuseum Nationalmuseum (or National Museum of Fine Arts) is the national gallery of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretches far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, the nationalmuseum manag ...

File:Still Life with a Rifle, Hare and Bird ( Fire ) (Jean-Baptiste Oudry) - Nationalmuseum - 17874.tif, ''Still Life with a Rifle, Hare and Bird "Fire"'' (1720), 144 x 116 cm.,

File:Still Life of Fruits and Vegetables ( Earth ) (Jean-Baptiste Oudry) - Nationalmuseum - 17868.tif, ''Still Life of Fruits and Vegetables "Earth"'' (1721), 145 x 113 cm.,

File:Jean-Baptiste Oudry - Allegory of Europe - BF.1987.2 - Museum of Fine Arts (cropped).jpg, ''Allegory of Europe'' (1722), 161.9 × 151.8 cm.,

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

File:Jean-Baptiste Oudry - Dog Pointing a Partridge - WGA16781.jpg, ''Dog Pointing a Partridge'' (1725), 129 x 162 cm.

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...

File:StillLifewithDeadGameandPeachesinaLandscape-JeanBaptisteOudry-BMA.jpg, ''Still Life with Dead Game and Peaches in a Landscape'', (1727), 80 x 100.3 cm.,

Birmingham Museum of Art The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. It has one of the most extensive collections of artwork in the Southeastern United States, with more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts repres ...

File:Musée des Augustins Toulouse 36.JPG, ''Louis XV hunting deer in the Saint-Germain forest'', (1730),

Musée des Augustins The Musée des Augustins de Toulouse is a fine arts museum in Toulouse, France which conserves a collection of sculpture and paintings from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. The paintings are from throughout France, the sculptures represe ...

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

File:Jean-Baptiste Oudry - Hyena (1739).jpg, ''Hyena in the Fight with two Dogs'' (1739), 130 x 190 cm.,

Ludwigslust Palace Ludwigslust Palace (german: Schloss Ludwigslust) is a stately home or ''schloss'' in the town of Ludwigslust, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, northern Germany. It was built as a hunting lodge, rebuilt as a luxurious retreat from the ducal capital, Schweri ...

File:Jean-Baptiste Oudry - Le loup et l'agneau.jpg, ''The Wolf and the Lamb''. from La Fontaine Fables (no date), 104.1 x 125.7 cm., private collection File:Still Life with Dead Game and a Silver Tureen on a Turkish Carpet (Jean-Baptiste Oudry) - Nationalmuseum - 17873.tif, ''Still Life with Dead Game and a Silver Tureen on a Turkish Carpet'' (1738), 120 x 171 cm.,

File:The Dachshound Pehr with Dead Game and Rifle (Jean-Baptiste Oudry) - Nationalmuseum - 17867.tif, ''Dachshound Pehr with Game and Rifle'' (1740), 135 x 109 cm.,

File:A Hare and a Leg of Lamb (Oudry).jpg, '' A Hare and a Leg of Lamb'' (1742), 98.2 x 73.5 cm.,

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

File:OUDRY Swan attacked by a dog.jpg, ''Swan Attacked by a Dog'', (1745), 177.8 x 208.3 cm.,

North Carolina Museum of Art The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) is an art museum in Raleigh, North Carolina. It opened in 1956 as the first major museum collection in the country to be formed by state legislation and funding. Since the initial 1947 appropriation that e ...

File:Jean-Baptiste Oudry - Cassowary (1745).jpg, ''Cassowary'' (1745), 161.9 x 127.4 cm.,

Staatliches Museum Schwerin The Staatliches Museum Schwerin (State Museum Schwerin) is an art gallery and museum in Schwerin in Germany. It was established by Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1882 its historicist Haupthaus as the ''Staatsgalerie'' ...

File:Jean-Baptiste Oudry - Still-life with Pheasant - WGA16782.jpg, ''Still-life with Pheasant'' (1753), 97 x 64 cm.,

File:Cholmondeley Oudry White Duck.jpg, ''The White Duck'' (1753), 95.3 x 63.5 cm.,

Houghton Hall Houghton Hall ( ) is a country house in the parish of Houghton in Norfolk, England. It is the residence of David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley. It was commissioned by the ''de facto'' first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walp ...

tolen 1990File:Still Life by Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1685-1755) - IMG 7246 (cropped).JPG, ''Still-life with Hare, Partridge and Snipe'' (ca. 1755), 82.2 x 66 cm.,

Worcester Art Museum The Worcester Art Museum, also known by its acronym WAM, houses over 38,000 works of art dating from antiquity to the present day and representing cultures from all over the world. WAM opened in 1898 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and ranks among th ...

Textile designs

File:Chevalfondu.jpg, ''Les Amusements Champêtres: Le cheval fondu'' tapestry, from the Barlatier de Mas Collection File:Wandteppich Aktaion, Altes Rathaus Bonn.jpg, Gobelin "Aktaion" in the "Altes Rathaus" (Old Town Hall) of Bonn, Germany (1750) File:Settee (canapé) (part of a set) MET TP101 (cropped).jpg, Settee (sofa) (ca 1754 –56), carved and gilded beech; wool and silk tapestry, 111.8 x 235 x 81.3 cm.,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

File:Aubusson - Fables de La Fontaine 1.JPG, '' The Lion in Love'', Aubusson tapestry (ca. 1775–1780), after J-B. Oudry,

Musée Nissim de Camondo The Musée Nissim de Camondo is a historic house museum of French decorative arts located in the Hôtel Camondo at 63, rue de Monceau, on the edge of Parc Monceau, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. The nearest Paris Métro stops are ...

, Paris.

References

*''This article is based on a translation of the equivalent article of the French Wikipedia, dated 2006-07-26''

External links

Biography
from the

Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fe ...

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