"La course au Sanglier" "The Boar Hunt"
Classification
printed, dyed & painted textiles
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Accession Number
1939-38-2-a
About this artwork
Research in Progress
Art Historical Context
Claude-Louis Desrais’s “La course au Sanglier” (“The Boar Hunt”), created around 1785, captures the excitement of a traditional French hunting scene on a printed, dyed, and painted textile. As a French artist active in late eighteenth century, Desrais specialized in lively drawings and designs that were often adapted for decorative arts. The work’s classification as a textile suggests it was intended not only as an image but as a functional piece of fabric—perhaps for furnishing or clothing—bringing dramatic outdoor action into domestic spaces. Hunting scenes like this one were popular among ...