Lot Essay
A study for the group of courtiers standing by a railing at the cross roads in the forest of Compiègne for Le rendez-vous au carrefour du Puits du Roi, Forêt de Compiègne, better known as Le Botté du Roi, one of the main tapestries of the series called Les Chasses Royales, sometimes also refered to as L'Histoire de Louis XV, commissioned by the Crown for Compiègne. This commission brought fame and fortune to Oudry who received the enormous amount of 52,000 livres for his work. The work was started around 1739 and aimed at competing with the celebrated Chasses de Maximilien by Bernard van Orley acquired by King Louis XIV in 1665.
Compiègne was the King's favorite hunting ground and the location was a crossroads of eight roads, four kilometers from Compiègne. The hunt started there and the court witnessed it. Eight of the figures have been identified as portraits of members of the King's closest entourage. The oil modello for the tapestry is in the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris.
Compiègne was the King's favorite hunting ground and the location was a crossroads of eight roads, four kilometers from Compiègne. The hunt started there and the court witnessed it. Eight of the figures have been identified as portraits of members of the King's closest entourage. The oil modello for the tapestry is in the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris.