A Stag Hunt in a Forest

Much of Hackaert’s life remains largely unknown, though we do know that he travelled three times to Switzerland to work as a topographical artist. Returning to the Netherlands by 1658, he turned his attention to landscape painting, for which there was a considerable market in Amsterdam. He synthesized the forested rocky vistas he saw in Switzerland with the Italianate landscapes being produced by numerous Dutch artists at the time. Hackaert frequently set his hunting scenes, like this one, in dense woods with rich lighting effects created by the interplay of shadow and sunlight passing through the high, fine and lacy foliage and slender tree trunks. Hunting was considered a refined pastime associated with the nobility. It thus became a popular subject of painting in the latter half of the seventeenth century among the expanding Dutch affluent classes. Here, the figures were executed by Lingelbach. Like many landscape painters of the period, Hackaert often collaborated with artists who specialized in these types of small figures. Born in Frankfurt, Lingelbach was active in Amsterdam, travelled possibly to France and certainly to Italy and returned to the Netherlands about 1653. Known for imbuing his figures with an animated spirit, Lingelbach worked in a style that reflects the influence of the Dutch artists working in Rome known as the Bamboccianti.