Jean-Baptiste Oudry

Marquis d'Harcourt;
His sale, Paris, Hotel Drouot, 2 April 1873, lot 8;
Château de Brissac, France, where it has descended in the current owner's family since the early 20th century.

J. Locquin, "Catalogue raisonné de Jean-Baptiste Oudry, peintre du roi (1686-1755)," in Archives de l'art français, Paris 1912, Nouvelle periode, vol. 6, p. 33, cat. no. 165;
H.N. Opperman, Jean-Baptiste Oudry, London 1977, vol. 1, p. 511, cat. no. P404.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This large work has not been recently restored. The canvas has an old lining which is still quite serviceable, although the cracking is slightly raised here and there throughout. There is an original canvas join running vertically through the urn on the left, interrupting the date in the lower left. There are some very old retouches across the bottom of the picture and in the grass beneath the largest of the three dogs, where some thinness has developed. The thinner and darker colors in the fountain, beneath the trees and beneath the lip of the urn have received slight retouching. The original join on the canvas on the left side has received a few retouches, and the foliage in the upper right has also attracted some restoration. None of the restorations are particularly good. The work will respond to cleaning. If the work is cleaned and retouched and the paint layer slightly consolidated, the painting would show a marked improvement.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This large canvas of a macaw fending off three dogs was last recorded in the 1873 auction catalogue of the Marquis d’Harcourt (see Provenance) where it was described in detail: “Un superbe ara perché sur un vase en bronze, agace trois chiens qui le regardent sans pouvoir l’atteindre.  Au second plan, une fontaine au bout d’une allée d’arbres (A superb macaw perched on a bronze vase annoys three dogs who watch without being able to reach it. In the background, a fountain at the end of an avenue of trees)."  In the d’Harcourt catalogue, the painting was listed as signed and dated 1747.  At present, the last digit of the date is no longer visible, and the third digit appears to be a “3.”  Based on a photograph, Dr. Hal Opperman, who until now knew this picture only from the 19^th century catalogue description, has confirmed the attribution to Oudry.  The form of the “3,” with the top of the numeral flattened, is typical of the artist and Opperman believes the style and subject matter of this painting would actually fit better within Oudry's oeuvre of the 1730s than from a decade later.

Oudry was famed for his depictions of animals, though his initial training was as a portrait painter.  He also produced still lifes, but by the 1720s had begun to specialize in hunting scenes, game pieces, and animal portraiture.  In this painting, the artist depicts three very distinctive dogs — a pug, a toy spaniel and a small terrier.  Their expressions as they react to the brilliantly colored macaw, who squawks at them from his perch, are vividly drawn with the pug and terrier fully engaged while the spaniel looks away, rather bored with the encounter.  Each dog is depicted with such a high degree of individuality that it seems likely that this painting was a commission by one of Oudry’s patrons for a portrait of their beloved pets.