Louis XV with the Royal Hounds in front of the Pavillion of Croix-Fontaine belonging to the Fermier Générale Bouret

Louis-Nicolas van Blarenberghe began his career in the studio of his father, the Flemish battle painter Jacques-Wilhelm van Blarenberghe. By 1769 he was appointed as battle painter to the war-department in Paris, where he also took royal commissions for sets of gouaches depicting major European cities and the battles of Louis XV’s reign for the decorations of Versailles. This large-scale work is rare in the artist’s oeuvre, as he is best known for his miniature works, sometimes used in the decoration of snuff boxes. The present work depicts the lavish home of financier, advisor to King Louis XV, and fermier générale, Etienne-Michel Bouret (1710-1777). The scene depicts a royal hunting visit to the Pavillion du Roi, at the Château Croix Fontaine, which he designed and named in the King’s honor in hopes of gaining royal favor. Bouret’s extravagant desires to please the king were so infamous, he was satirized in Diderot’s philosophical dialogue Le Neveu de Rameu.

While the exact circumstances of the commission of the present painting are unknown, it descends from an esteemed collection which included a number of Van Blarenberghe’s works. The Earles of Rosebury, at Mentmore, amassed such a collection of the unusual large-scale gouaches that a ‘Blarenberghe room’ was formed and remained in the home until the collection was sold in 1977.