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Les abois d'un cerf (The Death of a Stag)
  • Date: 1737
  • Object Type: Painting
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Image size: 54.5 x 45 cm
  • Inv: P470
  • Location: Dining Room
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Description
Provenance
Marks/Inscriptions
Further Reading
  • One of two preparatory oil sketches (with P463) for 'Un déjeuner près d’une ferme' (Breakfast by a Farm; Paris, Louvre) and 'Les abois d’un cerf' (The Death of a Stag; untraced) were commissioned from de Troy to decorate the King’s large dining room of the King's Petits apartements at Fontainebleau together with works by Carle van Loo and Charles Parrocel. They were completed in 1737. They formed part of a major scheme of redecoration at Fontainebleau, to which eight artists contributed. The large paintings were exhibited at the Salon of 1737 before installation. The sketches were shown to the King for approval and then returned to the artist. They are probably in their original eighteenth-century frames.

    The two paintings are the only major eighteenth-century oil sketches in the Collection and show de Troy's impressive abilities as a painter of complicated compositions. The Hertford family usually preferred highly finished works. They were probably acquired because of their subject matter.