Scene de Chasse à Cour

The provenance of this painting provides an interesting saga. Before the War, in an auberge in Fleurmes, a series of prints by the English artist Henry Alken were given to the proprietor in lieu of payment by a client, the Comte de V. Several years later, in the mid-1930s, the prints having become part of a litigation between the two parties, the local judge decided to return three of the six prints to the Comte de V., leaving the proprietor with three prints and a still unpaid debt. Robert de Rothschild, having acted as witness on his behalf and aware of the arrangement previously agreed upon by the two parties, was so distressed by what he considered the unfair verdict that in reparation to his friend, he gave him the gift of the present painting by Princeteau. With the War, the Auberge du Grand Cerf et St. Hubert was lost and the painting stored away for twenty years. Only in 1961 did the current owner, the proprietor's son, purchase his own auberge where the present painting remained on view until today.

Princeteau established his reputation in his portrayal of the Horse and was instrumental in transferring this skill on to his most famous pupil, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.