Oudry's painted menagerie
Subtitle: portraits of exotic animals in eighteenth-century Europe
By: edited by Mary Morton ; with essays by Colin B. Bailey ... [et al.].
Contributors: Morton, Mary G.; Bailey, Colin B.; J. Paul Getty Museum.; Staatliches Museum Schwerin.; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Publisher: J. Paul Getty Museum
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Los Angeles
Language: eng
Number of pages: 151
ISBN-13: 9780892368792; 9780892368891
Subjects: Oudry, Jean-Baptiste, -- 1686-1755 -- Exhibitions; Friedrich, -- Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, -- 1717-1785 -- Art collections -- Exhibitions; Wildlife art -- France -- Exhibitions; Art -- Private collections -- Germany -- Exhibitions
Genres: Exhibitions.
Description: "This beautiful volume--published to coincide with an exhibition at the J. Paul Getty Museum to be held from May 1 to September 2, 2007--is the first to focus on the series of life-size portraits painted by the eighteenth-century artist Jean-Baptiste Oudry of the animals in Louis XV's royal menagerie at Versailles. A tiger, a lion, a leopard, and, most impressive of all, the famous rhinoceros known as Clara joined a group of other exotic animals in Oudry's "painted menagerie," which was purchased in 1750 by his German patron, the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The book's insightful essays situate this suite of paintings within the context of Oudry's career; discuss Oudry's remarkable drawings of animals; and present a fascinating history of menageries and of the phenomenon known as "Claramania"--When the real rhinoceros, Clara, traveled through Europe and caused a public sensation."--Publisher's description.
Notes: Issued in connection with an exhibition organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum in conjunction with the Staatliches Museum, Schwerin, Germany, on view at the Getty Museum, Los Angeles, May 1-September 2, 2007, and at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 7, 2007-January 6, 2008.

Includes bibliographical references.