Jean-Baptiste Oudry

Between 1729 and 1734 Oudry prepared a set of drawings for Jean de la Fontaine's “Fables choisies mises en vers” but the four volume series did not appear until 1755-1759 when it was published in Paris by Desaint et Saillant. The series was originally bound into two albums, probably after being engraved, and consisted of 276 drawings for the 245 fables, including a frontispiece designed by Oudry in 1752 for the printed edition. Although it was probably always Oudry's intention to have the series engraved, it was not until after Montenault bought the drawings in 1751 that the latter began to look for engravers, printers, typesetters, booksellers, and patrons for the publication. Charles-Nicolas Cochin le fils (1715-1790), whom Montenault put in charge of the illustrations, redrew Oudry's original drawings in graphite in a more finished form.
Oudry's drawings for the “Fables” are executed in pen and brush with wash and white heightening on a vivid blue paper, with each vignette surrounded by a drawn frame. The present drawing illustrates La Fontaine's fable "The Rat and the Oyster" ("Le Rat et l'huitre", Fable IX, Book 8, Desaint et Saillant, 1755-1759) about a rather dull rat who decides to leave his home to travel. Coming upon a group of appetizing oysters on a beach, one of whom is sunning himself, the rat sticks his head in the open shell and the oyster snaps shut his shell catching the rat's head. The fable's lesson is devoted to those who are naive and end up ensnared by the unexpected.