Wild Sow and Her Young Attacked by Dogs (1748): Art, History and Details

Wild Sow and Her Young Attacked by Dogs (1748) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jean-Baptiste Oudry (French, 1686–1755).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Jean-Baptiste Oudry began his career as a portraitist but gradually became known for his paintings of animals and hunting scenes. These images attracted the attention of Louis XV, and Oudry became one of France's foremost decorative painters during the king's reign. Here, the artist highlighted a violent battle between a sow and a group of dogs. The drawing relates to one of Oudry's most successful Salon paintings, which was exhibited to great acclaim in 1748. The sketchy lines and lack of detail throughout the sheet suggest that it was likely a study made in preparation for the later canvas, which was purchased by Louis XV and installed in one of his homes.

Object facts

• Title: Wild Sow and Her Young Attacked by Dogs
• Date: 1748
• Creator attribution: Jean-Baptiste Oudry (French, 1686–1755)
• Culture: France
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: Pen and brown and gray ink, brown and gray wash, heightened with white gouache on light brown laid paper
• Dimensions: Sheet: 37.7 x 51.7 cm (14 13/16 x 20 3/8 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1997.191

A detail from the museum

Though Oudry was a prolific draftsman, he purposely kept his drawings during his lifetime, hoping that they would be an asset for his heirs after his death.

Collection credit

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Catalogue d'une belle collection de dessins italiens, flamands, hollandois, et françois...le tout rassemblé avec soins & dépenses, par M. Neyman, Amateur à Amsterdam (Paris: Basan, 1776).
• Locquin, Jean. Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre de Jean-Baptiste Oudry, peintre du roi (1686-1755). Paris: Jean Schemit, 1912.
• Opperman, Hal N. Jean-Baptiste Oudry. New York: Garland Pub, 1977.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.