A Hare and a Leg of Lamb
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
unframed: 98.2 × 73.5 cm · framed: 118 × 92.5 × 6 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
European Painting and Sculpture
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1969.53
Tags
male
About this artwork
Oudry used a starkly simple composition and sterile background to emphasize his virtuosity in depicting textures, a highly desirable skill of still-life painters at this time. These artists were aiming for the highest level of accuracy—an effect of the Enlightenment, the contemporary intellectual movement that emphasized scientific reasoning in all pursuits. These paintings were generally displayed in hunting lodges or dining rooms, as a glorification of the hunt and the bounty it brings.