Vertrek voor de jacht 1485 - 1490

This is 'Departure for the Hunt', an engraving made by the Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet. The scene depicts an aristocratic hunting party, ready to set off into the forest with horses, hounds, and falcons. This artist worked in the late fifteenth century, a period of increasing urbanization. Courtly life and its trappings was a popular theme in art, but also a focus for emerging social critiques. Hunting, in particular, was freighted with symbolic meaning. Traditionally it was seen as a pursuit that instilled virtue in the nobility, but it could also be interpreted as an arrogant display of privilege, in which the lives of animals were treated as expendable entertainment. The popularity of the theme says something about the aspirations of the urban elite and the social tensions of the age. As art historians, we have to look at the whole history of this image - its making, its circulation, and its reception - in order to understand its meaning.