A Hare and a Leg of Lamb

Oudry's 1742 still life of a hare and a leg of lamb belongs to his celebrated series of hunting trophies and kitchen-larder subjects, a specialised genre in which he was unrivalled at the French court. Appointed animal painter to Louis XV, he spent decades at Versailles and Compiègne documenting the royal hunt and its luxurious aftermath, and his larder pieces brought the same close observational rigour to dead game that he applied to living animals. The pairing of the hare — a common quarry — with the butchered lamb creates a visual argument about texture and surface: fur against raw flesh, the soft against the wet. French still-life painting of this period occupied a complex cultural position: officially ranked below history painting in the academic hierarchy, it commanded enormous market prices and private admiration.

Oudry exploits strong directional light to reveal every detail of the hare's fur — individual hairs distinguished by short, precise strokes — and contrasts this with the glistening translucency of the raw meat, built up with glazes over a cool grey underlayer. The stone ledge is painted in flat, broad strokes to anchor the composition.