Still life with the bust of America, Jean-Baptiste Oudry
In this work, artist Jean-Baptiste Oudry uses items that evoke meals associated with the royal hunt: a wicker basket full of peaches, a melon of which a quarter has been cut out, a silver dish with carafes and glasses, a bunch of grapes and a pâté en croûte with a slice cut out. There is also a gilded silver cooler with a bottle.
The allegorical bust of America evokes food from the New World which caused a sensation at the Court of Louis XV: figs, depicted here, not forgetting pineapples and coffee. The King’s table thus happily combined tradition and innovation.
Jean-Baptiste Oudry, was a French painter and designer. He mainly painted animals, especially dogs; in addition, he painted hunting scenes.
