XIII - Paintings and Drawings - Marty de Cambiaire

his descendant Henry II, duke of Guise who began to sell it to
Mazarin just before the cardinal’s death. It is Louis XIV who
made the final instalments and thus added the tapestry to his
collections of Garde-Meuble de la Couronne.
Today there are two series of drawings related to the tapestry.
The first, consisting of five sheets scattered between Leiden,
Berlin, Budapest and Copenhagen, is considered as original
Van Orley’s. The second, made up of twelve sheets in the
Louvre, is today considered as workshop drawings.
The present drawing, as well as the four others, have not been
included into the corpus of Van Orley’s graphic works whose
drawings with firm attributions are not very similar in graphic
terms. Their universe is however reminiscent of the tapestries
and we can find some of the same accessories, actions and
figures that are present in the tapestries, but that are not direct
copies. Therefore, it is rather a reinterpretation of the details
by an artist of the circle of Van Orley made circa 1535-1540.
The most important figure of this hunt, the lord, represented
in different sheets as leading the search, feasting, listening to
the report, slaughtering the boar and receiving its head, may
be Maximilian I or Ferdinand I: the draughtsman insisted on
his bulging cheeks in the lower jaw – physical characteristic
typical of the Habsbourgs and especially Maximilian. The
cavalier behind him may be Charles V. Comparison with
several portrait medals appears to be rather convincing,
although we must avoid rushing to judgement. The tapestry of
the month of June in the series The Hunts of Maximilian also
features two figures traditionally identified as Maximilian I or
Ferdinand I and Charles V.
The five drawings can also be connected to three other sheets
in the Louvre (Inv. 20147, 20148 et 20149; fig. 5-6) similarly
executed with a game of luminous contrasts on prepared
paper and whose attribution is equally problematic. These
three bucolic scenes with the meaning still to be clarified were
formerly attributed to Van Orley on the basis of the inscription
on one of them: Meester Bernaert Orleÿ van Braßel fecit. After
being in the collections of the two great collectors Everhard
Jabach and Pierre Crozat, they were acquired by Pierre-Jean
Mariette, who considered them to be of Van Orley’s hand,
as proven by the inscription on the cartouche of his famous
mounts: Bern. Van Orley Bruxellensis. In spite of this solid
historical background, the authors of the 1993 catalogue did
not keep them in the artist’s corpus: “The movements are too
stiff, the repertoire of gestures is too limited, the use of pen
and brush is rather timid” in contrast to the “extroverted and
vigorous” style of Van Orley. The authors were the first to
connect the three sheets with a small group to which belongs
the present drawing by advancing the hypothesis that it may
be by the hand of Master of the Months of Lucas. Olivia
Savatier, in an article published in 2013, preferred to maintain
the historical attribution of these three sheets to Van Orley 11 ,
but Stijn Alsteens refused it once again for a different reason:
the series seemed to him to be of a quality superior to that of
the drawings by Van Orley “whose style is more functional
and relaxed, sometimes abrupt, never attempting to evoke the
depth or the effects of light which make the Louvre drawings
so pleasant.” 12 He did not rule out that the three sheets were
by the same hand as the four at that time known drawings
from the wild boar hunting series, although they seemed
inferior in quality.
The discovery of the present sheet, due to its excellent state
of preservation, contributes to better understanding of the
four others whose alterations – particularly the disappearance
or oxidation of the white highlights – considerably hinders
their study and obscures their numerous qualities. The present
sheet reveals the artist’s preoccupation with both realistic and
poetic treatment of the forest and the figures animating it.
Clumps of trees with wet trunks and twining around them ivy,
mossy paths, and uneven soil are shown with the same truth
as the faces of the hunters, some looking like real troglodytes.
But the contrasts of shadow and light, the white and quivering
foliage, the elegance of the silhouettes in the distance,
the beauty and the passion of the horses give an almost
supernatural atmosphere to the scene. There is no absolute
certainty that the five sheets depicting wild boar hunting have
been created by the same artist that made the three bucolic
scenes in the Louvre, but the question is worth asking, and a
detailed comparison can make it possible to find even more
points of similarity than it could seem at first sight. It seems
obvious that a fresh look must be taken at the four sheets
in the Louvre and Albertina, which should take into account
the quality and the state of preservation of the present sheet.
There are two later drawings in the Albertina that repeat in
reverse and on larger scale the episode of the report and the
final assault 13 . This proves that the series was so appreciated
that it served as a model for a print, an engraving or tapestry of
a smaller size to be used, for example, as furniture decoration.
It may have even been conceived for this purpose.
Finally, it must be considered that the series may not be
complete. Other drawings may be discovered in the future
and reveal a bigger series dedicated to hunting in general
including hunting with hounds and falcons along the lines
of The Hunts of Maximilian. It would slightly modify the
meaning and the order that we offered in this study for the
five existing sheets, but the chances of identifying the author
and understanding the whole creation context would thus be
increased.
1 Antoine Louis Galesloot, Recherches historiques sur la
maison de chasse des ducs de Brabant et de l’ancienne
cour de Bruxelles; précédées d’un Aperçu sur l’ancien
droit de chasse en Brabant, Kiessling, Schnée, Brussels,
1854, pp. 138-139.
2 Henri de Ferrières, Le Roy modus des deduitz de la chace,
venerie et fauconnerie, 1380, Paris, Guillaume le Noir,
rue sainct Jaques, 1560, i.j.
3 La Vènerie de Jacques du Fouilloux, Paris, Poitiers, 1561,
Paris, la Veuve Abel L’Angelier, 1614, p. 56.
4 Idem, p. 35.
5 Idem, p. 61.
6 Henri de Ferrières, op. cit., p. 32.
7 Recherches historiques sur la Maison de chasse de
l’ancienne cour de Bruxelles, A F Galesloot, Brussels,
Leipzig, 1854.
8 Fouilloux, op. cit., p. 130.
9 Sophie Schneebalg-Perelman, Les Chasses de Maximilien,
127