A View of a Park (possibly Arcueil)

Date

ca. 1745

Creator

This is considered a "finished" drawing and could conceivably have been exhibited at a Salon, as were other views of Arcueil by Oudry. Although completed in the artist’s studio, it was initially sketched outdoors in front of the motif. It is a record of a specific place that would have been well known to Oudry’s audience, rather than entirely imaginative and intellectualized like the landscapes of Claude [Lorrain]. The park at Arcueil, on the outskirts of Paris, was owned by the Duc de Guise. By the time Oudry drew his large series of landscapes there (more than one hundred were recorded in sales, although only fifty are extant today), it had begun to fall into disrepair. This romanticized view, entirely devoid of people, shows nature reclaiming the parterres, alleys, and grand staircases that suggest a passing era. from Snay, The Epic and the Intimate: French Drawings from the John D. Reilly Collection (Notre Dame, 2011)