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Hanging of the new hunts
These tapestries were offered by Louis XV to Germain Louis Chauvelin, Marquis de Grosbois, Keeper of the Seals and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. They are based on the compositions of four of the six pieces of the initial tapestry of the New Hunts. This first hanging was woven in 1727 under the direction of Noël-Antoine de Mérou from cartoons by Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755), painter of the royal hunts under Louis XV. The wolf, the fox, the stag and the wild boar are represented in clearings, near streams.
Their killing by dogs is the main subject of each of the pieces. The crewmen, dressed in the red outfit of the venerie - and sometimes equipped with swords and hunting horns - are represented as simple spectators of the animal violence. The hanging of the Hunts of Louis XV, made after Oudry a decade later, reflects the same ideal vision of the landscape. These weavings evoke the prestige associated with hunting, at that time essentially reserved for the elite.
