Door panel 1746 - 1756

Christophe Hüet created this door panel in France sometime in the first half of the 18th century. It's made from painted and gilded wood. The painting depicts a hunting scene, complete with dogs, hunters, and a bear, set within an ornate frame. The Rococo style, with its playful asymmetry and love of nature, was in vogue among the French aristocracy at this time. These panels adorned the homes of the wealthy, reflecting their taste and status. The scene is a staged, idealized version of nature. The formal gardens and carefully managed forests of the French elite were themselves statements of control over the natural world. This panel, in its own way, celebrates a world of privilege and leisure. To understand works like this more fully, we can consult period journals, estate records, and treatises on garden design. These sources help us reconstruct the social world in which art like this acquired its full meaning.