Wooded Landscape with Stag Hunt
Tobias Verhaecht
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
At the center of this wooded landscape, a stag that has fallen prey to a pack of hunting dogs. As huntsmen gather, a company of riders and their dogs, depicted to the left, are watching the excitement. This Stag Hunt has been associated with the Netherlandish landscapist Tobias Verhaecht. Although the sheet shows close affinity to Verhaecht’s drawing style, some uncharacteristic features leave room for speculation as to the drawing’s authorship. The work has an underdrawing in black chalk, which is atypical for Verhaecht. Likewise, the way the clouds are rendered, and the limited refinement in the background scene are unconventional for the artist. Despite the noticeable speed with which Verhaecht’s pen and ink drawings seem to have been made, his compositions never become messy, but always maintain a clarity and legibility; something that is not true for this drawing. The liveliness and action of this scene, moreover, is not often encountered in the otherwise very tranquil mountain views of Verhaecht. Landscapes by Verhaecht and his fellow countrymen knew a great popularity among the contemporary audience, both locally and abroad. The possibility exists that this drawing was made by different, currently unidentified artist, who was working in the same vein.
Drawings and Prints
An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.