The Start of the Hunt

The start of a hunt is a formal moment

Like the departure pictures elsewhere in this register, this one takes the beginning rather than the pursuit. It is a deliberate choice on a painter's part: the start is when the field is gathered and legible, when horses stand and turn rather than gallop, and when a picture can hold a number of riders without becoming a blur. The animal's function is about to be cross-country transport, and the picture catches it a minute before that begins.

What the record holds

The catalogue gives 1865 as the date of creation and a private collection as the location. The dimensions are 70 x 89 cm. Impressionism is the style term recorded and French the nationality attached to the painter. The categories include landscape, rural and an eco nature heading alongside Animal Art > Horse, and the measured colour families of the image are brown and yellow.

Why a private location is recorded plainly

This register does not record a private location more precisely than the country, and it treats the line as a statement about the last published source rather than about where the picture is now. Works in private hands change owners without announcement, and an entry that pretended otherwise would be wrong more often than it was right.