Oudrymania: fables, hunts and animal life" exhibition at the Château de Chantilly

Depicted in hunting, portraiture or combat, Jean-Baptiste Oudry's animals are essential references to the animal kingdom in pictures. With their virtuoso brushwork and impeccable technique, they plunge us into the heart of the 18th-century animal repertoire. Dispersed after the French Revolution, a cycle of three hunts expressly painted by Oudry for the Château de Chantilly will be exceptionally reunited for this exhibition.

Following in the footsteps of the Princes de Condé, who commissioned the artist to do this in the eighteenth century, the greatest collectors became fascinated by his animal scenes. A sensational collection of Oudry's drawings in private hands will be on show alongside the Chantilly collections, revealing to visitors works that have never before been exhibited. Among them, numerous illustrations for La Fontaine's fables show that both fabulist and artist used the animal kingdom to make people laugh or reflect on human nature. These illustrations were so effective that the decorative arts copied them and incorporated them into decorative elements that are also on display at the Musée Condé. Bringing together paintings, drawings, objets d'art and rare books, this exhibition will shed light on all the facets of the OUDRYMANIA that has captivated art lovers over the centuries.