Hunting, breeding and the struggle for life · 19th century

Birds, dogs, foxes and work beasts appear in landscapes observed without idealization, where rural life meets the daily struggle to survive.

19th century naturalist painting regards animal and pastoral life as a concrete reality. The animal is no longer just a symbol or an accessory: it works, hunts, flees, accompanies man and endures the seasons. At Winslow Homer, the late scenes devoted to hunting and fishing offer a particularly direct vision of the conflict between human beings, animals and nature. In The Fox Hunt of 1893, the expected order is reversed: hungry crows become predators while the fox sinks into snow which slows its flight. Dog and hunter or A hunter and his dogs show a relationship based on effort, training and necessity rather than picturesqueness. Geese in flight broaden this observation to the migratory rhythm. Landscape, weather and behavior thus constitute a single story, attentive to real gestures and the fragility of all life. The selection "Naturalist animals and pastoral life" notably compares Wild Geese in Flight - Winslow Homer and The Fox Hunt - Winslow Homer. His reading favors drawing.

Animal naturalism removes the ideal setting: snow, fatigue, hunger and movement make each beast inseparable from the environment where it lives.