Pavillons de chasse

Hunting in France is a thousand year old tradition. Hunting or shooting, it attracts kings, nobles, peasants and from the nineteenth century bourgeois. The hunting action is codified and the rest periods in pavilions built or arranged for this purpose are of extreme importance. It is no coincidence that Louis XIV chose for his residence a former hunting lodge, Versailles. The kings of France constitute a dynasty of hunters emeritus. Princes are not left behind. Hunting is going on all over Europe, and these frequent invitations provide valuable trade and travel opportunities. Through paintings, sculptures, engravings and photos the author deals here with the subject as a hunter. Michel Beurdeley mixes history with anecdote, he encapsulates the spirit of privileged moments. Unpublished photographs of Olivier Dassault punctuate the work of his astonishing art.