Hunting Scene, attributed To Jan Van Der Straet, Said Stradanus (1523 –1605)

Attributed to Jan VAN DER STRAET, called Stradanus (Bruges, 1523 – Florence, 1605)
Hunting Scene

Pen and brown ink, brown wash and white heightening on prepared brown paper,
26 × 31 cm

Provenance
Private collection, France

This striking and highly accomplished drawing depicts a wild boar hunt in a wooded landscape, animated by numerous figures and animals. The dramatic energy of the foreground, where hounds and hunters engage the beast, is heightened by the bold use of white heightening, which models the forms and enlivens the surface. The background, structured by tall trees and populated with additional hunting scenes, lends the composition a theatrical depth.

Attributed to Jan van der Straet, known as Stradanus, this work belongs to the artistic context of Medicean Florence, where the artist developed an important body of hunting scenes intended for illustration and engraving. Influenced by Italian Renaissance models as well as his native Flemish culture, Stradanus excelled in dynamic storytelling and elegant draftsmanship.

The drawing may have been a preparatory study for one of the compositions from the celebrated Venationes Ferarum, Avium, Piscium series, engraved in Antwerp under the supervision of Philips Galle in the late 1570s. The horizontal format, frieze-like narrative structure, and graphic style are all characteristic of this body of work.