The Return from the Hunt

Elegant couples rest after the hunt in an idyllic sunlit landscape, reflecting the traditional association of hunting and courtship. The gushing fountain, the woman holding flowers and the flirtation between the man holding a falcon and his companion add to the light-hearted romantic atmosphere. Falconry was a popular aristocratic pursuit. In the background, a man attempts to engage two women in conversation; one of them points away from him towards the landscape or the riders at the fountain, as if finding a reason to leave.Dogs stare longingly at a group of dead animals in the bottom left corner. While the hare and duck were presumably victims of the falcon, the deer and boar allude to an earlier scene depicted in The Boar Hunt, a companion to this painting, also owned by the National Gallery. The bugle – a type of horn – placed beside the animals is the instrument used by a male figure in the earlier painting to gather the hunting party. The figure in the background holding a parasol may be derived from a similar figure in Antonio Tempesta’s (1555–1630) engraving of a Lady observing a Stag Hunt (Metropolitan Museum, New York).This popular subject was influenced by seventeenth-century Dutch scenes of everyday life. The bright colouring and visible brushstrokes suggest the influence of the celebrated Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens. This painting and its pair, painted around 1700, set a precedent for later depictions showing groups of figures in countryside settings, known as //fêtes galantes//.