Achter de patrijzen! Foei! Possibly 1880 - 1882

Johannes Tavenraat rendered this drawing with pen in grey ink. The scene, titled "Behind the Partridges! Fie!", depicts a hunting dog leaping over a fence, its body stretched in mid-air. The dog, a symbol of fidelity and vigilance, has ancient roots. In the classical world, dogs were often depicted guarding temples or accompanying deities like Diana, the goddess of the hunt. This connection to the hunt is precisely what Tavenraat evokes here, but the dog's exuberance also mirrors the unbridled energy often associated with Dionysus and the ecstatic rituals of the Bacchae. Consider the "Hellenistic Dog" statue from the second century BC, where we see a similar tension between domesticated loyalty and wild instinct. Over time, the dog evolved into a symbol of social status and leisure, as seen in numerous Renaissance paintings. These shifting meanings reveal how images adapt, retaining echoes of their past while reflecting the changing cultural landscape. It is with a rush of emotion that Tavenraat calls up these archetypes in a single image.