Hunters with Dead Game in a Landscape

Art Historical Context

**Hunters with Dead Game in a Landscape** is a captivating preparatory drawing attributed to the Italian artists Giovanni Agostino Cassana and his son Giovanni Battista Cassana, active in Genoa during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Dated broadly to 1600–1800, it exemplifies the Baroque interest in dynamic genre scenes and naturalistic details. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, this work on blue paper measures 9 3/4 x 15 13/16 inches and was acquired through the Rogers Fund in 1963. The composition bursts with life: hunters with their dogs and horses amid trees, surrounded by dead game birds—a popular motif symbolizing the hunt's triumph and nature's bounty in European art. The Cassanas masterfully blend techniques: black chalk forms the foundation, reinforced with colored chalks for depth, brushwork and gouache for vibrant highlights, and brown ink for precise outlines. This mixed-media approach on toned blue paper creates a luminous, atmospheric effect, bridging drawing and painting traditions of the Italian school. Such drawings were prized in artists' workshops for study or as autonomous works, showcasing the Cassanas' skill in animal and landscape depiction. Visitors will appreciate how this piece captures the era's blend of realism and elegance, inviting a closer look at its textured surfaces and lively figures.

About the Artist

Giovanni Agostino Cassana|Giovanni Battista Cassana (Italian|Italian) · 1665 |1668 –1720 |1738

Italian, Venice ca. 1665–1720 Genoa|Italian, Venice (?) 1668–1738 Mirandola