The kill of deer is a very large picture (355 to 505 cm), representing a hunting scene. It is painted in 1867 by Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet

Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet was a French painter who led the Realist movement in 19th-century French painting. The Realist movement bridged the Romantic movement , with the Barbizon School and the Impressionists...

. The table is stored in the Museum of Fine Arts

Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'archéologie de Besançon

The Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'archéologie in the French city of Besançon is the oldest public museum in France...

 of Besançon

Besançon

Besançon , is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It had a population of about 237,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2008...

.

History

The painting was done during the winter of 1866-1867. It is the latest large format Courbet, which it was very special, particularly throughA Burial at Ornans

A Burial At Ornans

A Burial At Ornans is a painting of 1849–50 by Gustave Courbet, and one of the major turning points of 19th-century French art. The painting records the funeral in September 1848 of his great-uncle in the painter's birthplace, the small town of Ornans...

andThe Artist's Studio

The Artist's Studio

The Artist's Studio : A Real Allegory of a Seven Year Phase in my Artistic and Moral Life is an 1855 oil painting on canvas by Gustave Courbet. It is located in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, France....

. The work was exhibited at the French art salons and academies

French art salons and academies

From the seventeenth century to the early part of the twentieth century, artistic production in France was controlled by artistic academies which organized official exhibitions called salons...

 of 1869. The table scandal, major formats being reserved for the Noble Painting, the history painting

History painting

History painting is a genre in painting defined by subject matter rather than an artistic style, depicting a moment in a narrative story, rather than a static subject such as a portrait...

, rather than a hunting scene.

Iconography

The scene shows a deer attacked by a pack of hunting dogs. He collapsed on the snowy ground. Two characters are on the right. The drill is Cusenier Jules, a resident of Ornans

Ornans

Ornans is a commune in the Doubs department in the Franche-Comté region in eastern France.-Personalities:Ornans is the birthplace of the French realist painter, Gustave Courbet . One of Courbet's most famous paintings is Burial at Ornans, which records the burial of his great uncle in September 1848...

 while the man on horseback is Felix Gaudy, of Vuillafans

Vuillafans

Vuillafans is a commune in the Doubs department in the Franche-Comté region in eastern France.-Personalities:It was the birthplace of Balthasar Gérard, the assassin of the Dutch independence leader, William I of Orange, also known as William the Silent. Gérard was born at number 3 in the street now...

.
'L'Hallali' is in the tradition of representation of the scene hunt

Hunt

Hunt may refer to:* Hunting* Hunt * Hunt * Hunt, Idaho* Hunt, Texas* Hunt, California, former name of McFarland, California*Hunt v. Cromartie, 1999 U.S...

, from . Courbet uses a harsh realistic representations of the Flemish closer. Hunting scenes are common in the paintings of Courbet, every step of the latter are represented

There is another influence in this painting, that ofThe Massacre at Chios

The Massacre at Chios

The Massacre at Chios is the second major oil painting by the French artist Eugène Delacroix. The work is more than thirteen feet high, and shows some of the horror of the wartime destruction visited on the Island of Chios...

(1824) by Eugène Delacroix

Eugène Delacroix

Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school...

(table at right). His influence is reflected particularly through the character-horse.