The Calydonian Boar Hunt

about 1611–1612

Medium

Oil on panel

Dimensions

59.2 × 89.7 cm

Status

In Museum Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-130432

>The boar was furiously twisting its body round and round, its jaws slavering with foam and fresh blood...the hero who had dealt the wound came up close to the animal and roused his foe to fury, before finally burying his shining spear in its shoulder. > >--Ovid, *Metamorphoses* Wrapped in a flowing red cape, the warrior Meleager thrusts his spear into the shoulder of a massive boar. The ferocious creature--seemingly undaunted by a pair of hounds latched onto its bristled hide--has turned to confront head-on its human adversary. Meleager's blow will prove to be fatal to the boar, but the beast has proven itself as a fearsome foe. Beneath its imposing hooves lie the disemboweled carcass of a hound and the prostrate corpse of the hunter Ancaeus. The story of the Calydonian boar hunt was told and retold during antiquity--most famously in Ovid's *Metamorphoses.* When King Oeneus of Calydon failed to honor the goddess Diana with offerings, she released a terrifying boar on his land. The king's son, Meleager, assembled a group of renowned warriors to slay the beast. Several of the huntsmen were killed or maimed before Meleager finally defeated the boar. He presented its …