Artwork
Dogs attacking a bear and her cubs
Dogs attacking a bear and her cubs is an oil painting by the Flemish Baroque painting artist Carl Borromäus Andreas Ruthart. It dates from 1666 and is held in the collection of the Bavarian State Painting Collections.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The composition centers the protective mother bear against her canine attackers, with the cubs positioned as the stakes of the conflict.
The painting depicts a violent animal encounter in which dogs assault a bear defending her cubs, a motif drawn from the hunting genre. The composition centers the protective mother bear against her canine attackers, with the cubs positioned as the stakes of the conflict. Such predatory confrontations were a recurring subject in seventeenth-century animal painting, where artists dramatized the ferocity of wild beasts and the courage required to hunt them.
The work belongs to the animal art genre, and the scene functions both as a naturalistic study of interspecies behavior and as an allegory of maternal defense and the brutal dynamics of the hunt. By staging the struggle between domesticated hounds and a wild bear shielding her young, the painting emphasizes themes of protection, vulnerability, and the violent instincts underlying the chase.
Technique & Style
Created in 1666, Dogs attacking a bear and her cubs is executed in oil paint on a canvas support. The work is a large-scale animal painting measuring 267 cm in height and 422.5 cm in width. As a piece of animal art, the composition focuses on the dramatic depiction of dogs hunting a bear and her cubs.
The substantial dimensions and the choice of canvas suggest a format intended for significant public or aristocratic display within the tradition of Baroque hunting scenes.
History & Provenance
The work titled Dogs attacking a bear and her cubs was created in 1666 by Carl Borromäus Andreas Ruthart as an oil painting. It is part of the Bavarian State Painting Collections and has been housed in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich since its acquisition.
Carl Borromäus Andreas Ruthart's oil painting Dogs attacking a bear and her cubs, created in 1666, is held by the Bavarian State Painting Collections. The work resides specifically within the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. It is cataloged as a large-scale animal painting measuring 267 cm in height and 422.5 cm in width.
The provided sources do not contain specific inventory or accession numbers, nor do they list any exhibition history for this piece.
Overview
Created in 1666 by the German-born painter Carl Borromäus Andreas Ruthart, later known as Frà Andrea, this oil on canvas portrays a violent encounter in a forest. The work is part of the Alte Pinakothek’s collection and exemplifies the artist’s engagement with the dramatic narratives typical of the Flemish Baroque tradition.
Context
The painting belongs to a broader Baroque fascination with animal combat, a genre that allowed artists to explore movement, emotion, and the interplay of light and shadow. Ruthart’s choice of a bear versus dogs echoes contemporary allegorical readings of nature’s ferocity and the struggle between strength and cunning.
Artist & collection
Artist
Carl Borromäus Andreas Ruthart
Carl Borromäus Andreas Ruthart (1630 – c. 1703; also known as Carl Ruther and Karl Ruthard; in Italian as Carlo Borromeo Rutardo) was a German painter who spent most of his career in Italy. During the last years of his…
