Exalting himself as a star hunter, “un homme libre,” or free man, Courbet painted himself in the center of Le Repas de chasse. Many luncheons, repas de chasse, were already painted by Watteau, Van Loo, De Troyes, and others, but their aristocratic effeminate swank repelled him.
In aristocratic society, the hunters’ luncheon is enlivened by the company of women, and Le Repas depicts two ladies waiting for the rest of the hunting party has arrived. Courbet, In red, the Master of the Hunt signals with his horn for the others to meet at the trysting place.
Brillat-Savarin describes the Haltes de chasse, the hunters’ luncheon in the field, as a most festive meal anywhere. Courbet contrasts the hunters’ dining alfresco with the trophies of the morning’s hunt on the right. A great foodie, he emphasizes food and wine. However, Courbet does not acknowledge the influence of The Psychology of Taste.
The painting, about 7 x 10 feet, is an apotheosis of the hunter’s success and the festive luncheon., At first glance, the scene seems static and artificial, like a grouping of statues. Hunters and visiting ladies occupy the central plane. The luncheon includes a roast, a large knife and a fork beside it; large dinner plates; a basket of fruit, and several bottles of wine. A servant kneels, retrieving more wine, and cooling it in the stream. On the left, the exhausted hunting dogs lie next to the morning’s kill.
*The Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, uses the tits de Chasse où L’Halali du Chevreul. Gustave Courbet. (1858. However, Robert Fernier, editor of the Courbet catalog raisonné, gives it the title though Le Pique-nique, though it is doubtful that Courbet would have used the word pique-nique to describe any alfresco meal.
See Robert Fernier. La vie et l’oeuvre de Gustave Courbet, Catalogue Raisonné. Lausanne and Paris: La Bibliothéque des Arts, 1978; Origins of Impressionism Edited by Gary Tinterow and Henry Loyrette. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994; Ulrich Finke French 19th Century Painting and Literature. New York: Harper & Row, 2014; Michael Fried. Courbet’s Realism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992; Shao-Chien Tseng. “Contested Terrain: Gustave Courbet’s Hunting Scenes.” The Art Bulletin 90, no. 2 (2008)