Hertenjacht met honden 1594 - 1598

This print of a deer hunt with hounds was made in the Netherlands around 1600 by Jan Collaert the second. It depicts an aristocratic hunting party in pursuit of deer, complete with dogs, beaters, and a grand estate in the background. The image creates meaning through the visual codes of class. Notice the elegant clothing of the hunters, their horses, and the detail of the architecture. Hunting, in this period, was an aristocratic preserve and the image presents a vision of social hierarchy, of elites at leisure. It draws on and reinforces the widely shared values of its time. The print also implicitly comments on the social structures of the time. By idealizing the aristocracy, it presents a conservative vision of the social order. Prints like this were often commissioned by wealthy patrons, so were used to broadcast status. As historians, we might study estate records, hunting manuals, and sumptuary laws, in order to better understand the social context of this print and the role of hunting in early modern Europe.