Important Woodwork Trumeau "wild Boar Hunting Scene". Louis XV Period. Eighteenth Century.

Important Louis XV period woodwork trumeau dating from the 1760s-1780s. Between curved and straight lines, it is transitional in style and is very harmonious in its proportions. Palmettes, ribbons and ropes in gilded wood bring the necessary grace "ma non troppo". They bring power but also measure to the object. The mirror is mercury. It measures about a third of the surface area reserved for the large painted canvas nestled above. In the tradition of "The Hunt" immortalized by the work of the painter Rubens, we see a hunt where dogs and hunters corner a wild boar just before the final assault. The main theme, violent, is fortunately counterbalanced by the harmony of pleasant colors - the blue-greens being particularly shimmering - making it possible to "lighten" the harshness of the scene. Let us remember that the hunt is before the night of August 4, 1789 a true privilege of the aristocratic elite, agriculture remaining their prerogative within the framework of the rights attached to the management of local resources. Furthermore, it also constitutes a real pillar of the identity construction of the nobility. Our three young country squires put on aristocratic breeches and simply “rolled up their sleeves”. Wearing their hats and holding their pike, they brilliantly improvise as experienced hunters.