Because the scene is obviously a picnic, the National Gallery of Art’s title, The Picnic after the Hunt, is apt. But Lancret would not have used pique-nique because the French denoted it as an indoor dinner. More likely, he would have titled un repas de chasse, as he did for a painting now in the Louvre titled Un repas au retour de la chasse (1737c.). The location in the field for Picnic also suggests that this is a tryst or midday break in the hunt. Brillat-Savarin describes this custom in The Psychology of Taste (1826)
Un repas au retour de la chasse is clearly a lucn in a garden. Musée du Louvre
Featured Image: A fashionable lunch in the field. Nicolas Lancret. The Picnic after the HuntHunt40c.), oil on canvas. Washington, D.C.; National Gallery of Art