Jager in een bos schiet op een opvliegende reiger 1849 - 1913

Lionel Oscar Baes created this small etching on paper, titled "Hunter in a forest shooting at a rising heron," whose date is unknown. The landscape teems with a delicate frenzy of lines that capture a fleeting moment of action. Note the composition, where the eye is immediately drawn to the center, the drama of the hunter, heron, and dead tree is framed by the forest. This layout divides the artwork into planes where the depth and atmosphere generate a feeling of claustrophobia. Baes masterfully handles light and shadow, using hatching and cross-hatching to give volume to the leaves and the forest floor, and to convey the tension of the scene. The contrast between light and dark emphasizes the struggle between man and nature, predator and prey. Baes doesn't just depict a hunt, but also a struggle between different forms of life.