Misse and Luttine

1729

Jean-Baptiste Oudry

Painter, French, 1686 - 1755

Two dogs, one with short white hair to our left and one with longer black hair to our right, stand in front of the base of a pair of columns set in a landscape in this horizontal painting. Both dogs stand with their heads to our left. The short-haired grayhound to our left leaps or is shown midstride with its front paws off the ground as it turns to look behind it, to our right. It has cream-colored fur with tawny brown spots near the base of its thin tail and covering its right eye and ear. The dog has a long, pointed snout, and its ribs show a little through its thin frame. To our right, the furry black dog has long ears, a short tail, and small white spots on its chest and lower lip. It stands planted on all four feet, looking at the grayhound with brown eyes. The tails of both dogs are raised as if in play. The caramel-brown, stone column base behind the grayhound is chipped and cracked in a few places, but supports a pair of columns that rise off the top edge of the canvas. The landscape beyond the dogs is painted with muted moss-green trees and a pale blue sky. A plant, possibly a marigold, grows from the scrubby green ground under the white dog. Names are written with capital, shiny gold letters under each dog. The name “MISSE” is written against a rock in the lower left corner and “LVTTINE” under the black dog. The artist signed and dated the work as if written on the face of the column base: “J.B, Oudry 1729.”

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 53


Artwork overview


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Commissioned 1729 by Louis XV, King of France [1710-1774].[1] (anonymous dealer, London); purchased c. 1944 by Peter Coats, Kelvedon Hall, Brentwood, Essex, and London;[2] purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Thaw, New York, by 1977; gift 1994 to the NGA.
[1] This painting is related to a group of portraits of dogs belonging to Louis XV and destined for the royal chateau at Compiègne. For its early history, see Georges de Lastic, "Desportes et Oudry, Peintres des chasses royales," Connoisseur 196 (December 1977): 294, and Hal Opperman, J-B Oudry, 1686-1755, exh. cat., Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 1983: 126-127.
[2] Peter Coats describes how he purchased the painting from a Sloane Street shop that had been bombed during World War II. See his letter to Eugene Thaw, dated 29 August 1984, in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1991

  • Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991, 86-87, color repro.

Bibliography

1977

  • Lastic, Georges de. "Desportes et Oudry, Peintres des chasses royales." The Connoisseur 196 (December 1977): 290-299, fig. C, color repro.

2009

  • Conisbee, Philip, et al. French Paintings of the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2009: no. 77, 357-360, color repro.

Inscriptions

center left on socle: J.B, Oudry / 1729; across bottom under each dog: MISSE / LVTTINE

Wikidata ID

Q20177834


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