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'The Hunt in the Forest', c.1470
by Uccello
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Uccello was a painter of perspective, animals and landscape.
This decorative and lively painting of a hunting scene is one of the treasures of
the Ashmolean Museum’s collection of Italian Renaissance paintings.
It was probably painted as a wall decoration for the home of a sophisticated and
wealthy patron. It is a highly original painting both as a nocturnal landscape and
as a brilliantly structured composition. It is a rare and unusual survivor of a
domestic painting depicting a secular, contemporary subject.
It is a scene of motion and noise. Hounds leap, horses rear back, men gesture and
appear to call out in a darkening forest. There are crescent moons on the horses’
trappings; these may symbolise Diana, the classical goddess of the hunt. These hidden
meanings and the unreality of the scene contribute to the mystery and charm of the
painting. The hunt at night is an imaginary scene, full of energy and activity.
Uccello was an early practitioner of mathematical perspective, he mapped out a grid
on the panel’s surface as a guide for his design, fixing a central vanishing
point. The devices of the huntsman’s spears, the cut branches and logs, the
area of water and the decreasing size of the figures and trees, create a sense of
depth and motion in the scene.
Uccello’s approach is highly decorative with bright clear colours set off
against a dark background, the foliage of the trees was once picked out with gold.
which produces a magical quality to the painting.
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© Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
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