.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Jean de la Fontaine's Fables, a series of 12 books comprising 239 stories in verse derived largely from classical and eastern fabulists published in several volumes between 1668 and 1694, employ animals to comment upon various human behaviors. The most important illustrated edition of the Fables was a four-volume set published between 1755 and 1760 by Charles-Antoine Jombert (1712-1784) that featured engravings after designs by Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755), one of the most important animal painters in the first half of the eighteenth century.
While the present paintings had once been attributed to Oudry, they are now given to an unknown artist active in the 18th century. Four of the images--The Lion and the Gnat, The Cat and the Fox, The Dog Who Dropped Substance for Shadow, and The Lion--are close to Oudry's designs, suggesting that the anonymous painter derived his paintings at least in part from these works. The final two paintings, The Eagle and the Magpie and The Heron, exhibit compositional solutions to the fables' narratives that are entirely independent of Oudry's designs.
While the present paintings had once been attributed to Oudry, they are now given to an unknown artist active in the 18th century. Four of the images--The Lion and the Gnat, The Cat and the Fox, The Dog Who Dropped Substance for Shadow, and The Lion--are close to Oudry's designs, suggesting that the anonymous painter derived his paintings at least in part from these works. The final two paintings, The Eagle and the Magpie and The Heron, exhibit compositional solutions to the fables' narratives that are entirely independent of Oudry's designs.