Oudry used a starkly simple composition and sterile background to emphasize his virtuosity in depicting textures, a highly desirable skill of still-life painters at this time. These artists were aiming for the highest level of accuracy — an effect of the Enlightenment, the contemporary intellectual movement that emphasized scientific reasoning in all pursuits. These paintings were generally displayed in hunting lodges or dining rooms, as a glorification of the hunt and the bounty it brings. (Text courtesy of The Cleveland Museum of Art). .
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