mediumaevum:With the month of December representing the end of a wild boar hunt in the forest of Vin
mediumaevum:With the month of December representing the end of a wild boar hunt in the forest of Vincennes, we return to the Limbourgs and the Duc de Berry.The dungeon and square towers rising above the trees are those of the home in which the Duke was born on the eve of December: November 30, 1340.The forests of Vincennes attracted many kings of France. Louis VII built a hunting lodge there; Philippe Auguste undertook the construction of a small château enlarged by Saint Louis, who, as we know, liked to dispense popular justice under one of its oaks. The boar has been run down and speared by the huntsman on the left, and hounds are tearing it apart. At the right a hunter blows the mort on his small horn. The dogs’ desperate eagerness is rendered with astonishing realism: their positions, the gestures of their paws, their greedy expressions, all have been observed and noted with care. These are bloodhounds, boarhounds, hounds whose breeding an expert would recognize immediately.Quick correction from the pedantic medieval hunting nerd: the pointy nosed dogs are greyhounds, the floppy-eared ones are running hounds (large scenthounds of some sort), the big drooly fellows in the back are the mastiffs. See how the one is getting the WHO’S A GOOD BOY YOU ARE MR. CUDDLES treatment from one of the handlers? Mastiffs typically bring down the boar after the greyhounds hold him at bay. The dog on the leash in the foreground is the limer, or bloodhound. There should be alaunts in there somewhere, but I’m not seeing them. -- source link