Meeting Place of the Hunt

This small panel is perhaps the companion to Monticelli's 'Fountain in a Park'. In both paintings the artist evokes the 18th-century tradition of the 'fête galante', initiated by Watteau, in which elegant courtiers enjoy themselves in parks and gardens.

Monticelli's distinctive painting style, characterised by evident rapidity of execution, thick paint, and blurred forms, was influential in the late 19th century on artists as diverse as Cézanne and Van Gogh.