Peter Paul Rubens Hunting scenes
Written
By: Autum MatysekSnyder
April 13, 2003
The hunting scenes of Rubens are masterful depiction
of a wild and chaotic fight between beast and man, where his “imagination
leaped beyond reality, history and allegory to create a vivid world in which
men and beast are pitted against one another in elemental conflict.”[i] In these scenes Rubens plays on the emotional reaction
of the viewer and their interest in the exotic. During
the early seventeenth century, Europeans were still discovering the exotic
and many had not seen the animals and people that were considered exotic. Which made Rubens paintings more shocking and breathtaking
for Europeans. By depicting scenes that were not normal,
or viewed everyday by Europeans, he was acting as an agent of their imaginations. He played on their ‘primitive’ minds of the exotic, to
get the desired response of awe and amazement. Many
of the dukes and nobility that commissioned these works had either been hunting
in the exotic lands, and had captured animals such as tigers and lions to
bring back to their estates, or were fascinated by what they had heard about
the exotic. An important aspect of these hunting scenes
to remember was that during the sixteenth century hunting was prohibited
to the majority of the population; only the nobility and royalty were given
permission to hunt. So, these scenes of hunting not
only depicted the wild and exotic but also hinted at social status.[ii] Maximilian I, Duke of Bavaria commissioned the original
hunting scenes, which initiated commissions by other nobility including,
James 1st Duke of Hamilton, Comte d’Arenberg and Sir Dudley Carleton.[iii] Rubens was able to “study and sketch the exotic animals
with great care” because of this connection with the nobility that had these
exotic animals as pets.[iv] Rubens marveled in the success that he got from these
paintings, not only because they were true masterpieces and they brought
great delight to his patrons, but also because it showed his superior skill. He became a master of depicting animals that were not
readily available to other artist and the public.[v] If he was able to successful depict these animals and
exotic people in action, then he had not only captured a realistic representation,
but also capture their essence and spirit. Standard
of all his hunting scenes were the inclusion of more than one kind of animal,
which gave the scene a more exotic appeal. His main
goal for the works was entertainment value and the paintings always showed
a tense or dramatic moment in the fight.
In the painting
Hippopotamus and Crocodile Hunt, 1616 commissioned by Maximilian,
Duke of Bavaria the painting depicts “a ruthless hunt of monstrous crocodile.”[vi] In this painting one can see the inclusion of two exotic
animals, the hippopotamus and the crocodile, the reference to a leopard in
the pelt on the horse of the upper left rider and three fierce hunting dogs. There is also a possible reference to a snake’s tail,
which slides over the left arm of the fallen hunter. The
dramatic expressions on the faces of the warriors do not express fear, but
express the tension and danger of the moment. The
hippopotamus and crocodile are crazily attacking the hunters with open mouths,
full of sharp teeth and are in whipping motion. Rubens
also utilizes the dramatics of diagonals to heighten the sense of immediacy
and movement, he “redirects attention downward into the center of action.”[vii] The horses and riders, with wide-eyed expressions, come
charging into the midst of the battle of the soon to be over come man on
the ground and the fallen ‘warrior’, with spears raised and sheer determination. The horses even mimic the intensity and danger of the
scene, their nostrils are flaring, manes blowing and bodies taught with excitement.
Hippopotamus and Crocodile Hunt
1615-16
Oil on canvas, 248 x 321 cm
Alte Pinakothek, Munich
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/art/r/rubens/61other/02hippop.jpg
The Lion Hunt, 1616, also commissioned
by Maximilian, depicts a similar scene to the Hippopotamus and Crocodile
Hunt, but has one fundamental difference, the image of a Knight. The Knight is shown riding into the fight, triumphing
over the defeated natives and jabbing his spear into the back of the lion
that is viciously biting into and pulling the native from his horse. It was common in Rubens hunting scenes for an Englishmen
(usually a Knight) to be victorious over the savage animals were the natives
(Arabs, Moors and Turks) were not.[viii] Again in this painting Rubens uses diagonals to dramatize
the moment of pure danger and fierceness of the actions that draw the viewer
back into the center of the composition. The background
is so dark and the colors are so vivid that the hunters stand out within
the background and apart from the animals. The Knight also stands out because
of his armor and the feather on his hat (it seems slightly out of place for
a hunting scene, but it pronounces the identification of the knight). The energy through motion is extremely present in this
scene and it feels like at any moment the battle between man and beast will
spring forth and continue right before your eyes.
Lion Hunt
1616
Oil on panel
Alte Pinakothek, Munich
http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/art/r/rubens/61other/03lionhu.jpg
In the sketch for the painting Tigers and Lions
Hunt, 1915-20 one can again see the energy and fierceness of the fight
and struggle between man and beast. A tiger has jumped
on the back of the center rider and is pulling the rider off his horse. The “central rider being clawed from his horse by a tiger
is pictured with remarkable restraint. He is not screaming
frantically, or in panic.”[ix] The finished composition incorporates lions, tigers,
cubs and panthers, not a usual mixture of animals, but in Rubens imagination
all exotic animals could be clumped together and the incorporation of a multitude
of animals created a more spectacular event. In the
finished composition in the lower left hand corner a man fights with a lion
that has over taken another hunter. The man has rippling
muscles and is yanking the mouth of the lion apart, the lions eyes are squinted
shut and it appears that it is experiencing great agony.
In this painting Rubens depicts an uncommon scene, by showing a dead
leopard. He also shows two Knighted figures in the
right hand side about to strike the tiger on the back of the central figure,
again a reference to the triumph of the ‘civilized’.
Sketch for the painting Tigers and Lions Hunt 1615-20.
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/collection/features/puzzling/img/R08531.JPG
Two slightly different hunting scenes
that can be loosely associated with Rubens lion hunts are those of the Boar
Hunt, 1618-20 and the Wolf and Fox Hunt, 1615-21. These two paintings, especially Boar Hunt rely on
Rubens mastering of landscape, the hunt is not the main focus, but actually
the beauty of the landscape. The hunt is taking place
on the “edge of a wonderful wood.”[x] There is still the dramatic sense of the scene with the
rushing in of the hunters diagonally from the corners of the painting, but
the immediacy and fierceness of the other hunting scenes is not present. The painting Wolf and Fox Hunt, is much more dramatic
than that of Boar Hunt, but still the danger and raw energy that is
present in the other hunting scenes is not there. He
paints a more traditional hunting scene, with the actual hunt and kill the
main focus, there is no one getting pulled off his or her horse or someone
getting bitten or mulled to death by an attacking beast, the scene is much
more restrained.
A Boar Hunt. 1618-1620. Oil on wood. Wolf and Fox Hunt, ca. 1615–21
The Dresden Gallery, Dresden, Germany.
http://www.abcgallery.com/R/rubens/rubens7.html
http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/view1zoom.asp?dep=11&full=1&mark=1&item=10%2E73
Rubens was a master at capturing the dramatic and
tense moments of perilous danger in his hunting scenes. He
heightened the theatrical and dramatic aspects of his paintings by utilizing
strong diagonals, rich color, thunderous weather and fierce beasts. Rubens displayed his skill by painting animals and actions
that had rarely been seen with such energy and vitality and by painting subject
matter that was not widely painted. He incorporated
his education of the classical and contemporary artists to create the most
spectacular image he possibly could. And he then relied
on the violent and intense reaction of the viewers to bring new meaning to
the idea of dramatic artwork. “Rubens’ paintings of
the hunt illustrate high points of emotional states, and they all illustrate
moments of extreme danger.”[xi] The intensity that Rubens used in his hunting scenes
can be seen throughout his other works, and makes his a true Baroque Artist.