The Hunt in the Forest
| The Hunt in the Forest | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Paolo Uccello |
| Year | c. 1470 |
| Type | Tempera and oil on panel |
| Dimensions | 65 cm × 165 cm (26 in × 65 in) |
| Location | |
The Hunt in the Forest (also known as The Hunt by Night or simply The Hunt) is a painting by the Italian artist Paolo Uccello, made around 1470. It is in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, England.[1]
The painting is an example of linear perspective in Renaissance art, a mathematical system developed to create the appearance of depth on a flat surface.[2] To do this, Uccello created a grid on the panel and diminished the scale of the figures, animals, and objects in relation to a central vanishing point.[3]
The panel was probably part of a cassone, a painted chest associated with marriage in the Italian Renaissance.[4]
It was Uccello's last known work before his death in 1475.[5]
In popular culture
Uccello's painting is featured in the "Point of Vanishing" episode of the British TV series, Lewis. A postcard of the painting is discovered as a clue to a murder. Lewis and his colleague visit the painting at the Ashmolean Museum on more than one occasion and are instructed on its significant features by a museum expert. The painting provides Lewis with an insight that allows him to solve the case.
John Fowles mentions the painting twice, in The Ebony Tower and The Collector: "...the design hits you the moment you see it. Apart from all the other technical things. You know it's faultless."
Brian Catling also mentions the painting in his 2017 novel The Erstwhile, describing a "hunt where men ran into darkness, sending dogs and spears darting lie violets into the vanishing point of flickering trees."
A Roblox game titled Frozen Soul/Dream Game used a part of this painting for a badge titled The World as an Idea.
References
- ↑ "The Hunt in the Forest". Ashmolean Museum Oxford. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
- ↑ "Cross-curricular ideas: Mathematics | Teachers and schools | National Gallery, London". www.nationalgallery.org.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2026.
- ↑ "THE HUNT IN THE FOREST". www.ashmolean.org. Retrieved 7 June 2026.
- ↑ Anderson, Jennifer Cochran; Dow, Douglas N. (22 March 2021). Visualizing the Past in Italian Renaissance Art: Essays in Honor of Brian A. Curran. BRILL. pp. 148–149. ISBN 978-90-04-44777-6.
- ↑ Kemp, Martin; Massing, Ann; Christie, Nicola; Groen, Karin (March 1991). "Paolo Uccello's 'Hunt in the forest'". The Burlington Magazine. 133 (1056): 164–178.