The First French Portrait of a Hunter?

"Daret. Inue.tor. et. Pinxit/Parisys 1661./Nicasius fecit/Annimallia": more than a signature, a revelation. In 17 th -century Dutch art there would have been nothing unusual about the casually seated, good-natured model fondly petting his dogs. The small, exactly contemporary Self-portrait as Hunter by Arie de Vois, in the Mauritshuis , immediately comes to mind. But here the play on words between "jagen" (to hunt) and "vogelen" (to catch birds) does not cover any gallant dimension! The work’s particularly imposing size, meaning and, especially, technique make it eminently French and show the turning point of two Flemings at the height of their powers, intent on making their mark on French minds. The "inventor", Jean Daret, and Nicasius Bernaerts, who was apparently behind the extraordinary animals, painted a portrait of a hunter in Paris 37 years before the piece that got Desportes admitted to the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture and decades before the portraits of hunters by Santerre, Oudry, Largillière, Tournières, Lancret…