A Garden in the Background - Hendrick van Balen (1575-1632)

Hendrick van Balen or Hendrick van Balen I (1574-5-1632) was a Flemish Baroque artist. He was one of the teachers of Anthony van Dyck. Van Balen collaborated with artists such as Joos of Momper, Gaspar de Witte, Jan Brueghel the Elder  and Jan Brueghel the Younger, and Rubens.  From 1595 until 1602 he studied art during a trip in Italy. Although there is no official record of his trip to Italy, to his return to Antwerp, he became a member of the guild Romanistics. There the condition was that members of this guild have visited Rome. In 1613, he was elected dean of the guild.

Hendrick van Balen (Dutch, c 1574-5-1632)  Vertumnus und Pomona  In this painting, flowers in pots appear to have been especially popular, both indoors & out. Potted plants & trees are depicted placed on top of balustrads, grassy beds, & terraces in gardens & entryways--some of these may have been tender perennials or fruit trees. Plants in pots were used both outdoors or in the house (See The Italian Renaissance Interior: 1400-1600, by Peter Thornton, Abrams 1991)

As in these paintings, allegorical characters in stories & in art of this period were often located in garden settings. The locus amoenus was one of the traditional locations of epic & chivalric literature. As a literary genre of high culture, romance or chivalric romance is a type of prose & verse narrative that was popular in the aristocratic circles of Medieval & Early Modern Europe.  Locus amoenus (Latin for "pleasant place") is a literary term which generally referring to an idealized place of safety or comfort, usually a beautiful, shady parkland or open woods, sometimes with connotations of Eden. A locus amoenus usually has 3 basic elements: trees, grass, & water. 

Often, the locus amoenus garden will be in a remote setting & with only components or suggestions of a more formal, geometric, walled garden. In some works, such gardens also have overtones of the regenerative powers of human sexuality marked out by flowers, & goddesses of springtime, love, & fertility. Ernst Robert Curtius formulated the concept's definition in his European Literature & the Latin Middle Ages (1953). 

Women & Gamepark Myths - 17C-18C Diana Female Hunter - Pastoral Allegory

1745 Jean-Marc Nattier (French painter, 1685-1766) Madame Adélaïde as the goddess Diana.  She has a crescent moon in her hair, a bow & quiver with an animal-skin at her waist.

Early European portrait artists painted their contemporaries as allegories.  Often painters would put the faces of their patrons on the bodies of Christian saints, whom they had been commissioned to portray. These came to be called donor portraits. As years passed, allegorical portraits remained popular, as they expanded to show the female sitter as a Biblical figure, a Greek or Roman goddess, or poetic muse, or nymph in in a gamepark or rustic setting.

In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of the hunt; the moon; & friend of wild animals, whom Diana could talk to & control.  Artists often depicted Diana wearing a classic tunic & sandals.  Some painted her holding a hunting spear or a hunting horn with a bow & a quiver on her shoulder.  Many Diana's were accompanied by friendly deer or hunting dogs.  Like Venus, she was portrayed as beautiful & youthful. Early artists sometimes depicted Diana wearing a crescent moon as a hair decoration & sometimes wearing an animal-skin wrap. 

Jan Mytens (Dutch artist, 1614-1670) Lady as Diana

 Jan Mytens (Dutch artist, 1614-1670) Lady as Diana

1550 Meister der Schule von Fontainebleau Diana the Huntress. This early Diana carries a bow & quiver & travels with her dog.  But, as for clothing, a few yards of cloth seems enough.

1590 Ambroise Dubois (Flemish-born French artist, 1542-43–1614-15) Gabrielle d'Estrees as Diana the Huntress with her faithful hunting dogs, Syrius & Phocion.  She has dogs, deer, a bow & quiver, a hunting horn, & a crescent moon in her hair.

 1630 Claude Deruet (French artist, 1588–1660) Marie de Rohan, Duchesse de Chevreuse as Diana the Huntress.  She has dogs, a bow & quiver, a hunting horn, & a crescent moon in her hair.

1635 Claude Deruet (French artist, 1588–1660) or Charles Beaubrun (Charles Bobrun) (French artist, 1604–1692)  Portrait of a Lady as Diana.   She has a quiver & a crescent moon in her hair.

1640 Joseph Werner the Elder (Swiss artist, 1600s) Young Lady as Diana with a hunting spear & some very impractical shoes. The slit dress & hells are also quite a surprise.

1640s Christina, Queen of Sweden Alexandra Maria Vasa (1626-1689) as Diana carrying a hunting spear.

1640 Willem van Honthorst (Dutch artist, 1594-1666) Henriette von Nassau as Diana with her faithful hunting dogs, Syrius & Phocion.  She carries a bow & quiver with feathers in her hair.

c 1635 Unknown artist, A Young Lady As Diana The Huntress

 1640s Ferdinand Bol (Dutch artist, 1616-1680) Portrait of a woman as Diana. She has a bow & quiver.

1640-50s Attributed to Giovanni Domenico Cerrini (Italian artist, 1609-1681) Christina, Queen of Sweden Alexandra Maria Vasa (1626-1689) as Diana.  Here she has her dog & a hunting spear.  The crescent moon hangs in the sky above them.

1650 Charles Beaubrun (Charles Bobrun) (French artist, 1604–1692) Portrait of a lady as Diana. She has a dog & a bow.

 1650 Jan van Mijtens (1613-1670) Lady as Diana. She has a tiny lap dog/hunting dog & carries a quiver on her back.

 1654 Justus van Egmont (Dutch painter, 1601-1674) Marie Anne Mancini as Diana the Huntress.  She has feathers in her hair & carries a bow & arrow, but she stands in a formal garden.

1661 Abraham Wuchters Christina, Queen of Sweden Alexandra Maria Vasa (1626-1689) as Diana holding an arrow.

1666 Giovanni Maria Morandi (Italian painter, 1622-1717) Claudia Felicitas of Austria as Diana.  She has a crescent moon in her hair, carries a hunting spear and has a dog at her side.

1667 Claude Lefèbvre (French painter, 1633–1675) Louise de La Vallière as Diana. She has a quiver & bow as well as her faithful hunting dogs, Syrius & Phocion.

1670s Copy of  Peter Lely (English artist, 1618-1680) Mary II (1662–1694), when Princess Mary of York, as Diana.  She has a crescent moon in her hair, a bow &arrow & only the head of her dog companion is visible.

Style of Peter Lely (English artist, 1618-1680) Ann Fanshawe (b.1654), Daughter of Sir Richard Fanshawe as Diana with a deer.

 1674 Jacob Huysmans (Flemish artist, c 1633–1696) Portrait of a Lady as Diana.  She has dogs, a bow  quiver, a hunting spear, & feathers in her hair.

1670s-90s Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Baciccio) (Italian artist, 1639-1709) Diana the Huntress with her hunting dogs, Syrius & Phocion.  Her bow & quiver lay on the ground.

 1680s Jacob Huysmans (Flemish artist, c 1633–1696)  Elizabeth Cornwallis (d.1708), Mrs Edward Allen, as Diana the Huntress with her faithful hunting dogs, Syrius & Phocion. . She has a hunting spear, & an animal skin decoration, & feathers in her hair.

 1688 Francois de Troy Lady Mary Herbert (1659–1744-1745), Viscountess Montagu, Previously the Honourable Lady Richard Molyneux, and Later Lady Maxwell, as Diana. She has a crescent moon in her hair, a dog, & an animal-skin component to her costume.

1700-10 Nicolas de Largillière (French artist, 1656-1746)  Portrait of Lady as Diana with her faithful hunting dogs, Syrius & Phocion.  She has a bow & quiver nearby.

 1743 Jean-Marc Nattier (French painter, 1685-1766) Madame la Comtesse d'Argenson.  She wears an animal-skin wrap & holds a bow with her quiver on her lap.

1700s Unknown French artist, Portrait of a Lady as Diana, Goddess of the Hunt.  She wears a crescent moon in her hair and has an animal-skin wrap, a dog, a quiver & a bow.

 1746 Jean-Marc Nattier (French painter, 1685-1766) Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (1722-1764) as Diana the Huntress. She has a bow & quiver with an animal-skin wrap at her waist.

 1751 Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (Italian artist, 1708-1787) Sarah Lethieullier as Lady Fetherstonhaugh, as Diana.  She has a crescent moon in her hair, a bow & a dog.

 1752 Jean-Marc Nattier (French painter, 1685-1766) Madame de Pompadour as Diana.  She has a bow & an animal-skin wrap.

1765 Carle or Charles-André van Loo (French painter, 1705-1765) Luise Henriette Wilhelmine von Anhalt-Dessau as Diana.  She has a dog, an animal-skin wrap, a bow & quiver, & a crescent moon in her hair.

 1765 Francis Cotes (English Painter, 1726-1770) The Honourable Lady Stanhope and the Countess of Effingham as Diana, and Her Companion.  Diana has a hunting spear & a crescent moon in her hair.

 1769 Thomas Beach (English artist, 1738-1806) Elizabeth Phelips (1750–1841), as Diana the Huntress.  She has a bow & quiver.

 1770 Thomas Beach (English artist, 1738-1806) Miss Elizabeth Phelips, dressed as Diana.  She has a bow.

1773 after François-Hubert Drouais (French artist, 1727-1775) Marie-Joséphine-Louise de Savoie (1753–1810), comtesse de Provence, as Diana with her faithful hunting dogs, Syrius & Phocion. She has a bow, & an animal-skin wrap.

1771 Robert Hunter (Irish artist, fl. 1748–1780) Lady Margaret Butler Lowry-Corry (1748–1775), as Diana.  She has a dog & carries a hunting spear.

1787 Ludwig Guttenbrunn (Austrian artist, 1750-1819) A portrait of Marie Joséphine de Savoy, the comtesse de Provence as Diana with her faithful hunting dogs, Syrius & Phocion.  She has a bow & quiver, & a crescent moon in her hair.

1680s-early 18C English Houses, Gardens, & Evolving Man-made Landscapes by Jan Griffer I (1645-1718)

1790s-18C Jan Griffer I (Dutch artist, 1645-1718) View of Old Kedleston House

Jan Griffier (ca 1652–1718) was a Dutch painter active in England, where he was admitted to the London Company of Painter-Stainers in 1677. The artist was born at Amsterdam, where he was apprenticed successively to a carpenter, an earthenware manufacturer, & a flower-painter before becoming a pupil ofRoelant Roghman (1627-1692)in landscape-painting. Mixing at Amsterdam in the societyof the great painters, such as Rembrandt, Ruysdael, & Lingelbach, he became acquainted with their various styles, & traces of their influence may be observed in his works. His city views, invaluable topographical evidence, suggest that his travels in England were extensive.

Gameparks - Women Hunting

Diana and maidens hunting - The Book of the Queen by Christine de Pizan from France 1410

During Medieval times, local lords strove to maintain & monopolize the forest reserves & the taking of big game in those forest reserves, & small game in warrens. They were most successful in England after the Norman Conquest, & in Gascony from the 12C. These were large sanctuaries of woodland — the royal forest — where populations of game animals were kept & watched over by gamekeepers. The peasantry could not hunt in these gameparks, poaching being subject to severe punishment: the injustice of such "emparked" preserves became a common cause of complaint in vernacular literature. The lower classes mostly had to content themselves with snaring birds & smaller game outside of restricted forest reserves & gameparks.

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) wrote of Hunting in Book 10 of his Liber ruralium commodorum1304-09. He advised that the gamepark should be stocked with hare, roe deer, red deer, wild boar, & rabbits He recommended the English, French, & Spanish hare specifically He wrote of hunting dogs & their dietary recommendations for each season & even times of the day to feed them Those participating in "the hunt" lived with unique vocabularies, customs, & ancient rituals.

As time passed, the invention of the terms & rituals of Medieval hunting for nobles was attributed by Malory & others to the Arthurian knight Sir Tristram, who was seen both as the model of the noble huntsman, & the originator of its rituals:As he (Sir Tristram) grew in power & strength he laboured in hunting & hawking - never a gentleman that we ever heard of did more. Reportedly, he devised good methods to take beasts of venery, & beasts of the chase & all kinds of vermin, & all the terms used in hawking & hunting. And therefore the book of venery, of hawking & huntinSee: du Fouilloux, Jaques (1561). La Venerie de Jaques du Fouilloux Turbervile, George (1575)The Noble Art of Venerie or Huntyng(A translation of du Fouilloux)

By the 16C, areas of European land reserved for breeding & hunting of game were of 3 kinds, according to their degree of enclosure & being subject toForest Laws:
Forests, large unenclosed areas of wilderness
Chases, which normally belonged to nobles, not the crown; &
Game Parks, which were enclosed, & not subject to traditional Forest Laws.

See
Joyce Salisbury, The Beast Within. Animals in the Middle Ages (New York, 1994)

Chasse L.-J. Bord and J.-P. Mugg, La chasse au Moyen Age. Occident latin, Ve–XVe siècle (Paris, 2008)

Robert Delort, Le commerce des fourrures en Occident à la fin du Moyen Age, 2 vols. (Rome, 1978)

HH J. Cummins, The Hound and the Hawk. The Art of Medieval Hunting (London, 2001)

Hunting A. Smets and B. V an den Abeele, “Medieval Hunting” in Animals in the Medieval Age (Oxford, 2011).

Hannele Klemettilä, Animals and Hunters in the Late Middle Ages (Routledge, 2015)

Edward of Norwich, The Master of Game , ed. W. Baillie-Grohman and F. Baillie-Grohman (Philadelphia, 2005)

MH R. Almond, Medieval Hunting (Phoenix Mill, 2003)

Poétique A. Strubel and C. de Saulnier, La poétique de la chasse au Moyen Age: Les livres de chasse du XIVe siècle (Paris, 1994)

16C Marketing & Preparing the products of gardens, farms, fields, & waters in Italy

Vincenzo Campi (Italian painter, c 1536 – 1591) The Fishmonger & Christ in the House of Mary and Martha

Vincenzo Campi (Italian painter, c 1536–1591) continued the Flemish theme of markets & people dining, but only rarely did he insert the religious scene in the background of his paintings. In fact, some of the paintings of Campi, such as his depictions of people eating, have been seen as lustful. While lust was certainly depicted between men & women in the Flemish paintings, it was seldom inserted into people's interactions with food itself.

Vincenzo Campi (Italian painter, c 1536 – 1591) The Fruit Seller

Vincenzo Campi (Italian painter, c 1536 – 1591) Chicken Vendors

Vincenzo Campi (Italian painter, c 1536 – 1591) Market Scene

Vincenzo Campi (Italian painter, c 1536 – 1591) Fishmongers

Vincenzo Campi (Italian painter, c 1536 – 1591) Fishmonger

Butchers, fishmongers, & poultry peddlers appeared in the northern Italian art of  Bartolomeo Passarotti (1529-1592)  & Annibale Carracci, many made in Cremona & Bologna between about 1580 & 1585. The evolution of these Flemish-based scenes from daily life signaled the birth of more realist genre painting in Italy.

Bartolomeo Passarotti (Italian artist, 1529-1592) Butcher Shop, 1580s. 

Bartolomeo Passarotti (Italian artist, 1529-1592) Les marchandes de volaille, 1577. Note: looks as if the market maid is wearing a tennis shoe...

Bartolomeo Passarotti (Italian artist, 1529-1592) The Fish Stall

Bartolomeo Passarotti (Italian artist, 1529-1592) Two Market Women with Boy selling poultry, gourds, & onions

Bartolomeo Passarotti (Italian artist, 1529-1592) Baker Preparing Pies

Annibale Carracci (Italian, Bolognese, 1560-1609) may have been the most admired painter of his time & a vital force in the creation of Baroque style. Carracci rejected the artificiality of Mannerist painting, championing a return to nature & everyday people engaged in daily activities. While he did produce religious paintings, he did not insert religious vignettes into his paintings of everyday folks fishing & hunting for, preparing, or eating food as the Flemish painters had several decades earlier.

Annibale Carracci (Italian, Bolognese, 1560-1609) The Butcher Shop

Annibale Carracci (Italian, Bolognese, 1560-1609) Butcher Shop c 1580