Sharing Out the Game

Probably commissioned by Charles V, Barend van Orley drew preparatory designs for twelve tapestries, now in the Louvre, showing hunting scenes of Emperor Maximilian I in the twelve months of the year. The Budapest drawing is a sketch for the tapestry representing the month of November, with a hunt feast. The artist depicted the lively scene in a wide clearing and set the numerous figures of his clear composition not in an idealized landscape but in a forest near Brussels.