The Hunt in the Forest
c. 1465–1470 · Tempera and oil on panel · Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
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About this work
- Artist
- Paolo Uccello (1397–1475)
- Year
- c. 1465–1470
- Medium
- Tempera and oil on panel
- Original size
- 73.3 × 177 cm
- Collection
- Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
- Movement
- Renaissance
Huntsmen in red and blue, on horseback and on foot, with hounds and beaters, race into a dark forest at night after deer, all converging on a vanishing point among the trees; gold flecks catch the light in the foliage, and crescent moons decorate the horses' trappings. Uccello, known in his lifetime as a master of perspective and of animals and landscape, mapped a grid on the panel to fix a central vanishing point, and the spears, cut branches, logs and water mark out the receding space. The long panel is a spalliera painting, made to be seen at shoulder height, set into a chest or the panelling of a room. Its first owner is unknown; the museum suggests it was made for a luxurious house, perhaps in Urbino, where Uccello worked from 1465, or in Florence about 1470. The idea of a hunt by night is playful or symbolic rather than realistic, and the gold would have glowed by candlelight. William Fox-Strangways gave it to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford in 1850.
This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Tiny red-coated riders, hounds and deer racing through a deep green night forest of slender trees, a long frieze for above a sofa, sideboard or bed at 24×36 in black. A deep green, navy or warm stone wall; it pairs with Charles I at the Hunt.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Exhibition poster of a Renaissance painting
- Era
- 15th century (c. 1465–1470)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- dark green, cream & beige
- Mood
- dramatic, moody, sophisticated
- Rooms
- living room, dining room, dorm room, hallway or entryway
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×36. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Hunt in the Forest in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Hunt in the Forest painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
