The Earl of Darlington Fox-Hunting with the Raby Pack: Going to Cover 1805

Curator: Look at the movement captured here. It’s "The Earl of Darlington Fox-Hunting with the Raby Pack: Going to Cover" by John Nost Sartorius. Editor: It's quite a striking image. The red coats pop against the muted landscape, almost flaunting privilege against nature. Curator: Indeed. Sartorius, working in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, made a name depicting sporting scenes like these. Hunting was not just a pastime, it was performance, a marker of status and land ownership. Editor: And so much violence normalized, made picturesque even. The pack of dogs rushing towards an unseen victim – it speaks volumes about power dynamics. We have to contextualize this within the violent histories of land enclosure and class division. Curator: Absolutely, the painting reflects the social structures of its time, where the elite displayed their dominance through these kinds of activities. Editor: It is hard to ignore the problematic associations. It reminds us that art can be both beautiful and deeply implicated in systems of inequality.