Picture of the hunter's punishment. A most curious picture: Punishment of the Hunter

This picture attracted my attention not for its artistic merits, but for the unusualness of the plot and the manner of constructing the composition. Somehow I have never seen it before. I think you will also be interested in looking at it. The main thing is that it contains deep meaning. She is a sequential story of the hunter and his punishment

PAINTING.

This is a painting by the Dutchman Paulus (Petrovich) Potter from the collection of the St. Petersburg Hermitage.

It's called "Punishment of the Hunter". It's a joke picture, a small comic book.

Portrait of Paulus Potter by Bartholomeus van der Gelst

Paulus Potter(1625-1654) Dutch artist, representative of the golden age Dutch painting.Died very young at 29 years old from tuberculosis.

Now let's return to the painting Punishment of the Hunter. It is very small in size - 85 by 120 cm.

A most interesting story!

The painting was painted in 1647. This picture is interesting because in one canvas it is divided into 14 stories, which sequentially tell about the fate of the unfortunate hunter, who nevertheless received what he deserved.

12 plot stories on the sides tell about how and what a hunter lives, how he hunts animals, how he sets traps, how his dogs gnaw on hunted animals. All the side stories tell about the torment and death of forest animals that got in the way of the hunter. Two stories in the very center of the canvas tell how the animals, having joined forces, caught the hunter with his hunting dogs and they staged a trial and execution.

The picture is divided into a number of small plot images, like icons with the lives of saints - when many events fit on one board. Along the edges are scenes of all kinds of hunting: horseback, hound, with snares and cages. Animal suffering is depicted everywhere!

EXAMINATION OF THE PICTURE IN DETAILS.

Let's start from the central picture above.

The central stories attract the viewer much more and this is not surprising, because here the animals carry out their legal judgment on the man who has killed them from time immemorial. Moreover, it must be said that this entire allegorical scene is distinguished by a rather cruel view of the hunter’s punishment. His dogs were hanged from a tree, and the hunter himself was roasted on a spit.

It is assumed that the successful hunter, who caught a hare almost taller than himself, is the customer of the painting.

The kneeling hunter is St. Hubert: seeing a cross between the deer’s antlers, he not only spared the beast, but also gave up the hunt.

Here we see the death of a goat. His fate is all the sadder because there is no chance to defend himself, to run away, to hide.

A bear is hunted with a pack of dogs.

It is unlikely that the artist has seen such a method of catching monkeys; it is more similar to the tales of experienced travelers.

Glue is poured into a basin, and curious monkeys will get stuck into it. The one who tries on boots is not much happier. Glue is poured into the boots. He won't run far, he'll only make the catcher laugh as he tries to climb a tree in his boots.

The boar cannot be saved.

The lion not only fights, but protects the lioness.

Here again hunting with dogs.

They go at the wolf with a spear.

The leopard is taken by deception. He sees his reflection in the mirror and enters the cage.

And this picture was drawn not by Potter himself, but by his colleague from the city of Utrecht, K. van Pulenburg, a specialist in the mythological genre.

Nature's patience has run out. The goddess Diana, also known as Artemis, punished the hunter Actaeon by turning him into a deer, which was hunted down by his own dogs. In the painting of Diana her nymph companions.

These two pictures are placed in the center, as they are the main conclusion of the picture. Here two scenes depicting the imaginary revenge of animals on their oppressors: the dogs were hanged on a branch, and the hunter himself, after a trial presided over by a lion judge and with the participation of an elephant prosecutor, was roasted on a spit.

The animals dance for joy. And the goat stirs the coals under the spit, which is turned

two bears. It is not visible who is tied to the spit, but you can guess.

A very interesting video.

The painting is very surprising, even for the golden age of Dutch painting, when mythological allegory, themes of sin and punishment were in vogue. The great painting by Paulus Potter says that the world will not forgive a person who kills living beings for fun.

The picture has black humor and hidden symbolism. We can say that this is a kind of “caricature” of the entire life that the painter saw around him. By punishing a hunter it is not at all necessary to literally understand the punishment of the one who hunts animals in the forest. A person who plots against people, deceives, robs, leads by the nose, causes suffering, etc., will be subject to the same torments of a hunter, since the world, in spite of everything, is incredibly fair!

Sources.

In a new entry I would like to talk about one picture of a very remarkable, but not very famous artist in our country. This is the Dutchman Paulus Potter and his painting “The Punishment of the Hunter,” now kept in the Hermitage.

Despite the fact that Potter is much less known than his compatriots Hals, Vermeer, Steen and many others, this in no way detracts from his outstanding talent as an original animal painter of his time. and only your own? We know many artists, to one degree or another, who were fond of depicting animals: Rubens, Snyders, Jan Brueghel, Rousseau and Gericault, etc. But Potter’s work differs from them primarily in the depth of the simple animal soul that the author puts into them. Potter lived a short life: only 28 years, from 1625 to 1654, and became famous precisely for his masterful drawing of animals. About a hundred of his paintings are dedicated to them. They are kept in many museums around the world: The Hague, Dresden, Berlin... The St. Petersburg Hermitage has a small but high-quality collection of his works. They were also originally located in Germany, then came to France under Napoleon and were purchased by Alexander the First as part of the collection of Empress Josephine.

The canvas was written in 1647. Q Why does it immediately attract attention and why can’t you just pass by it? Well, of course, first of all, because it is divided into 14 plots and is a story about the difficult coexistence of animals and humans.

The central part of the picture is occupied by 2 plots. The first depicts a court of animals: a lion is a judge and a king with a scepter in his paws, next to him is a leopard and an elephant, a fox. A person is escorted to them, this is done by a bear and wolves who hold the ropes. Dogs and a horse are waiting their turn for a message from a man on the hunt; it’s clear how afraid they are of their future.

On the lower half of the central part there is a scene of animals massacring humans. He is roasted on a spit, and the boar sitting next to him pours oil or some kind of sauce on him, the dogs are simply hanged, one of the monkeys climbs a tree and checks how well the rope is tightened. The rest of the animals held a celebration on this occasion. Although the scene is violent, it is nevertheless written with such humor that it is impossible not to smile while looking at it.

The 8 elements of the painting depict scenes of humans hunting various animals: bear, monkeys, wild boar, lion, wolf, bull, leopard and marten. Moreover, those scenes that could not take place in Europe, for example, hunting for monkeys, were performed in a very original way - the monkeys were given some kind of glue, due to which their paws stuck to their bodies. And a mirror for the leopard so that he thinks that there is some kind of animal nearby.

Above are 3 plots related to hunting: the first is about Saint Hubert, the patron saint of hunters, and then about an ancient plot.

I would like to note that Potter has a lot interesting paintings, this is the Farm, and the Young Bull, and the Horses in the Meadow. They can be looked at for a very long time. But I have a special interest in the painting Punishment of the Hunter, not only because it is a whole story, but also because of the meaning inherent in it: the animals will not endure for long, man will receive punishment for his crimes, justice will prevail.

Paulus Potter. Punishment of the Hunter. It is very small in size - 85 by 120 cm. 1647, Hermitage..

This picture attracted my attention not for its artistic merits, but for the unusualness of the plot and the manner of constructing the composition. Somehow I had never met her before.
I think you will also be interested in looking at it. The main thing is that it has a deep meaning. It is a sequential story of the hunter and his punishment

About the artist.

This is a painting by the Dutchman Paulus (Petrovich) Potter from the collection of the St. Petersburg Hermitage. This is a joke painting, a small comic book.

Paulus Potter (1625-1654) Dutch artist, representative of the golden age of Dutch painting. Paulus studied in the studio of his father, the artist Pieter Simons, as well as with Jacob de Weel and, possibly, with Pieter Lastman and Claes Moyert.

In 1646 he joined the Delft Guild of St. Luke. Around 1649 he lived in The Hague, where he also became a member of the artists' guild. In 1652, having married Adrian Baken Einde, Paulus Potter returned to Amsterdam, where the doctor of medicine Nicholas Tulp became his mentor. The artist died at the age of 29 from tuberculosis.

About the picture.

This picture is interesting because in one canvas it is divided into 14 stories, which sequentially tell about the fate of the unfortunate hunter, who nevertheless received what he deserved.

12 plot stories on the sides tell about how and what a hunter lives, how he hunts animals, how he sets traps, how his dogs gnaw on hunted animals. All the side stories tell about the torment and death of forest animals that got in the way of the hunter. Two stories in the very center of the canvas tell how the animals, joining forces, caught a hunter with his hunting dogs and staged a trial and execution.

EXAMINATION OF THE PICTURE IN DETAILS.

Let's start from the central picture above.
The central stories attract the viewer much more and this is not surprising, because here the animals carry out their legal judgment on the man who has killed them from time immemorial. Here are two scenes depicting the imaginary revenge of animals on their oppressors: the dogs were hanged on a branch, and the hunter himself, after a trial presided over by a lion judge and with the participation of an elephant prosecutor, was roasted on a spit.

It is assumed that the successful hunter, who caught a hare almost taller than himself, is the customer of the painting.

The kneeling hunter is St. Hubert: seeing a cross between the deer’s antlers, he not only spared the beast, but also gave up the hunt.

We see the death of a goat. His fate is all the sadder because there is no chance to defend himself, to run away, to hide.

A bear is hunted with a pack of dogs.

Monkey hunting.

It is unlikely that the artist has seen such a method of catching monkeys; it is more similar to the tales of experienced travelers.
Glue is poured into a basin, and curious monkeys will get stuck into it. The one who tries on boots is not much happier. Glue is poured into the boots. He won't run far, he'll only make the catcher laugh as he tries to climb a tree in his boots.

Biographical information

Paulus Potter was born into a family of artists in 1625. It is quite obvious that his father was his first painting teacher. After the young man began to make progress, Jacob de Wel, a Dutch painter, took him as a student. Some sources say that Peter Lastaman and Claes Moyert were also his teachers.

At the age of 21, the young artist became a member of the Delft Guild of St. Luke - a guild of sculptors, painters and printers. For some time, Paulus Potter leaves for The Hague, where he also becomes a member of another guild of artists.

In 1649, having married, he returned to Amsterdam, where he passed away last years life.

Stylistics of paintings

In all his works, Paulus Potter used animal themes. This choice was quite strange for that time, but the author was able to convince the public of the opposite. Potter's paintings are incredibly realistic and well detailed.

With great precision, the artist depicts not only the animals themselves, but also the surrounding environment. One of the researchers of his works, having visited the artist’s homeland, was able to recognize many real landscapes in the paintings. The master wrote real life, which does not need embellishment.

Semantic fullness

All the heroes of Paulus Potter's paintings are endowed with psychologism. Animals clearly illustrate the characters of people, and the habits of animals become noticeable in people. So, for example, in the painting “Figures with Horses at the Stable”, in the gaze of each character there is a certain mood - curiosity, boredom.

Another shining example such subtle psychologization is Paulus Potter's painting "Chain Dog". The work shows us an ordinary dog It would seem that there should be nothing special about this topic near the booth. However, the work is filled with a lot of valuable details that make it significant in the history of world art. So, only by the dog’s fur - sometimes rough, sometimes soft - can one understand that the picture depicts spring, since it is during this period that the dog begins to shed. It's amazing how accurately and believably the picture is painted. Also noteworthy is the angle from which the hero of the work is depicted - the dog in its size almost resembles big horse. Many critics attribute this to an attempt to increase the importance of the dog in the picture.

But the most important thing here is a look of hopelessness and disappointment. With what longing the chained dog looks at the distant and unattainable freedom. How many people could recognize themselves in the image of the animal depicted here?

The most extraordinary work

One of the most famous and most unusual paintings Paulus Potter - “The Hunter's Punishment”. The canvas consists of fourteen fragments, each of which is part of the plot.

The main theme is retribution. Nature punishes the hunter who killed her so mercilessly during for long years. Twelve side fragments outline the life of the hunter, i.e. the cause, and the two central ones depict the effect.

On the right we can see a cheetah, which was lured into a cage, a wolf, killed by a horn, a buffalo, hunted by dogs. On the left are monkeys caught with glue, an elephant that dogs are trying to tear to pieces, a mountain goat that is about to be shot.

In the upper right corner there is a painting depicting the goddess Diana and her nymphs. It was she who turned the insatiable hunter into an animal that was torn to pieces own dogs. In the opposite corner is St. Hubert is a hunter who voluntarily gave up cruel hunting after seeing a deer with a cross in its antlers.

And in the center of the picture, nature takes revenge on its tormentor - the dog is hanged from a tree, and a fire has already been prepared for the hunter.

Such deep psychologism in the works of Paulus Potter attracted the attention of many of his contemporaries and discovered new wave interest in animalism.

Some of the master's works are now in State Hermitage St. Petersburg.

Potter's painting "The Punishment of the Hunter" in the Hermitage

Luigi Premazzi. Types of halls of the New Hermitage. Tent hall

In the Tent Hall of the Hermitage, where a collection of paintings by the Little Dutchmen (17th century) is presented, in a separate box in the central part of the hall hangs a painting by Paulus Potter (1625-1654) “The Punishment of the Hunter”, unique even for the Hermitage. Painted around 1647, small in size, 84.5x120 cm (wood, oil), it invariably attracts the attention of all visitors.

The painting arrived at the Hermitage in 1814; Alexander I bought it along with others from the heirs of Josephine de Beauharnais, Napoleon's first wife, at Malmaison Castle.
But the story of the picture is almost detective in nature. As part of other Potter paintings, it was in the collection of the Hesse-Kassel Landgraves and hung in the Kassel Museum. During the war, Napoleon took a collection of paintings from the Kassel Museum. Part of this collection was found in the forest, and it was this part that Napoleon gave to Josephine, with whom it remained after the main collection returned to Kassel. After the purchase, Alexander I invited the Landgrave of Kassel to buy it back, but he refused. However, after the First World War, when signing Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Germans demanded that the paintings be returned to their museum. To the credit of the Hermitage, it refused to do this, so today citizens and guests of the city can see the painting here.

The uniqueness of the painting lies in the fact that on a small plate of wood there are 14 paintings (12 of them are “stamps”), united by a common plot - hunting animals and its consequences. It was written with a touch of humor and has an allegorical meaning; in the two central paintings the artist swapped the roles of people and animals.
9 stories tell about the senseless persecution and killing of animals, three about punishment and repentance, and two, the main ones, about trial and punishment for what they did.

So, let's start the inspection with images of the hunt. Each one tells about the torment and death of unfortunate animals pursued by hunters. Moreover, there is no equal combat in any plot.

Goat hunting. Hiding behind big stone hunter shoots defenseless animals.

Hunting for a bear that is trying to fight off the dogs that attacked it. A hunter kills a bear with a shot to the head.

Monkey hunting is no less treacherous. Glue is poured into the dish and boot, which will prevent the poor things from escaping. Hunters gloat from behind cover.

Boar hunting. The hunter finishes off the animal, surrounded and wounded by dogs.

Lion hunting. And although the lion, defending not only himself, but also the lioness, killed one of the hunters, his death is not far off.

Hunting for buffalo, which is poisoned by dogs. The hunters will finish him off when he can no longer resist.

Wolf hunting. The hunters come at him with pitchforks, clubs, and sabers. The outcome is predetermined.

Leopard hunting. They set a trap with a mirror on him so that when he saw his reflection, he mistook it for a stranger and rushed at him.

Marten hunting. Nets were placed on the animal returning to its burrow. There is no escape.

In the top row on the right, the plot of "Diana and Actaeon" was written not by Potter, but by Cornelis van Pulenburg, a master of mythological scenes, because Potter didn't know how to paint female figures.

Diana punished Actaeon by turning him into a stag for asserting his superiority in the hunt over her.

On the left side is another mythological scene - about Saint Hubert.

Hubert was such a passionate hunter that he did not observe any Christian rules. But one day a deer came out of the forest to him with a cross between its antlers, and this shocked Hubert so much that he stopped hunting and became a pious man, a saint.

And between them in the upper central part there is a hunter with a hare and dogs.

The painting depicts Johann Moritz of Nassau-Siegen, Field Marshal of the United Provinces, nicknamed the “Brazilian.” He was a politician, collector and hunter, but had no family. It is believed that this picture is a reproach to a person who does not live normal life, but surrendering entirely to passions.

The central part of the picture is occupied by two main images - court and punishment (punishment).

So, the hunter is brought to trial. The head of the court is a lion with a scepter. The judge is an elephant, next to the fox is the prosecutor. There are also advisers - a bull, a leopard, a boar and a goat. The hunter is led by a bear and two wolves, and a deer guard walks behind. Then the bears lead the dogs to trial, and at the end of the procession comes a buffalo. On a leash is a horse that will be judged later. All forest animals are happy, because... now justice will be done. The entire trial is written in full accordance with human court.

Well, then, after the verdict, execution.

A hunter is roasted on a spit. The bears spin the spit, and the goat and wild boar pour oil over its contents. An elephant and a monkey carry firewood to keep the fire going.
The gun is lying on the ground, and hunting accessories are hung on a tree. A wolf and a fox are hanging dogs on a nearby tree. Two more dogs are led to execution by monkeys.
And nearby there is a big holiday, animals are having fun: the bull, the goat and the chamois are dancing, and the bear is singing. The wolf joyfully rolls on the ground, the hare runs to the celebration, but the rabbit sadly leaves. At the same time, a lion and a leopard, noble persons, are sitting on a hillock, watching as ordinary subjects celebrate.

This is the “humorous story” told by Paulus Potter in the film.
Potter's picture is a moral lesson for rulers: the world can turn upside down due to lawlessness and abuse of people; people will rise up, even those as submissive as animals will rise up. This is how his contemporaries perceived the picture.
And Goethe wrote about it that it is a poem in painting and that it is difficult to imagine another picture that would give more pleasure and which is retained in the memory so long and vividly.

Finally, I want to show my favorite Potter painting in a frame, just like it hangs in the museum.