The Dream of an Inhabitant of Mogul (La Fontaine, Fables, XI, 4) 1732

Jean-Baptiste Oudry made this 12 1/4 x 10 1/8 in. drawing with pen and black ink, gray wash, and white gouache on blue paper. Oudry’s image illustrates a fable by La Fontaine, and it's interesting to think about the public role of these fables in 18th-century France. The story is about a man who dreams that the goddess Fortune offers him riches, only to be attacked by Jupiter if he accepts them. The drawing is an allegory of the dangers of greed, a common theme during the period. Oudry worked for the court, and his art served to subtly reinforce the values of the aristocracy, such as prudence and moderation. The drawing’s classical imagery, like Jupiter and Fortune, would have appealed to the tastes of the French elite. To understand the artwork better, we might research the popularity and political implications of La Fontaine’s fables in the cultural context of pre-Revolutionary France. It shows that the meaning of art is contingent on social and institutional context.