A Stag Hunt in a Forest

A stag is surrounded by hounds and by hunters on foot and on horseback in a river in a forest. The figures are noticeably expensively dressed and so they are probably aristocrats. In the Netherlands of the 17th century hunting remained a royal and aristocratic prerogative.

Berchem painted the figures and animals and Hackaert the landscape. Such collaborations between specialist painters was rather common in the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries. The inscription above the signature does not seem to be by Berchem, but is probably contemporary. It may be the name of the patron for whom the picture was painted but a Monsieur Seron has not been identified.