Hunting

Ligabue takes up and inserts in a new context the very ancient theme of the fight between deer, already present in cave paintings and Greco-Roman and widely disseminated by nineteenth-century popular prints. The two animals, entangled in each other's horns, are easy prey for a pack of hunting dogs, which precedes the advance of a stagecoach half-hidden by the horses. These are recurring elements in the artist's production, in this case merged into a work of great originality. Alongside the unusual iconographic choice, the care in rendering every detail and the skilful orchestration of the figures within the composition are striking.