Dog Guarding Dead Game 1753

Jean-Baptiste Oudry painted "Dog Guarding Dead Game" in France, sometime in the mid-18th century. At this time, France was an absolutist monarchy and the aristocracy dominated cultural life, Oudry was commissioned to paint by members of the royal court. The artist presents a hunting dog, posed mid-snarl in the foreground, guarding a collection of dead animals. Hunting was a favorite pastime of the aristocracy. Oudry himself was the official painter to the royal hunt. This painting then is as much a representation of the nobility’s pastimes, power, and status, as it is about the animals portrayed. The dog itself is a status symbol, just as the hunted animals are, with a suggestion of their value as trophies. The paintings of Oudry and his contemporaries can be approached from different perspectives. We might see the dog as a symbol of loyalty, or the dead animals as a reminder of mortality. However, the painting takes on a new level of meaning when understood in its historical context. We can research the history of the French monarchy and the cultural norms of the aristocracy, to better understand the work.