Stags hunted by wolves

Executed by Oudry as an independent work, this previously unknown large drawing relates in its high level of finish, size and signature to similar works dated 1749 in the Musée Atger in Montpellier and in a private collection (H.N. Opperman, Jean-Baptiste Oudry, New York and London, 1977, I, nos. D558-559, ill.). Entirely characteristic of Oudry’s late style, these chiaroscuro drawings were compared by Opperman to the artist’s experiments in painting from the same years (ibid., I, p. 152). Indeed, the present sheet might be the only visual record of a lost painting which was quickly sketched by Prince Frederick II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, on his visit to the artist’s studio in 1739 (op. cit., no. P198). Since Prince Frederick's sketch depicts an oval painting, the present drawing might be a reworked ricordo based on the central group of this lost work.