(Hanover 1716–1795)
A hare,
inscribed lower left: Anno 1767 den 7. April ist dieser rahre Hase bei Pattengen (Pattensen) von dem königl. Hofjäger Johann Friedrich Schuster geschossen worden [this rare hare was shot on 7 April 1767 near Pattensen by the royal court’s huntsman Johann Friedrich Schuster],
fragments of a signature: .. nne. mann,
oil on canvas, 60.8 x 79 cm, framed

Provenance:
Royal House of Hanover, possibly from the Göhrde Hunting Lodge

The present painting, which originates from the Electorate of Hanover, dates from the period when the country was tied to the United Kingdom by a personal union. With the Hanoverians ruling in England, the monarchs’ royal household in their German home had been reduced to a minimum and the king’s relatives were implemented as governors. Although diminished, it was a fully functional court, with the respective posts filled accordingly. In this context it is interesting that it was possible to locate Joachim Friedrich Schuster, the court’s huntmaster mentioned in the inscription, in an old document which describes him as officiating in the district of Calenberg, where the town of Pattensen was located (see “Königl. Grossbritannischer und Churfürstl. Braunschweig-Lüneburgscher Staatskalender auf das … Jahr Christi, worin das Staats-Verzeichnis der königlichen Regierungen und übrigen hohen Civil- und Militair-Bedienten in den deutschen Ländern nebst einem genealogischen Verzeichniss aller durchlauchtigsten hohen Häuser in Europa befindlich”, 1779, p. 37).

At the time the present painting of a hunting trophy was executed, Johann Georg Ziesenis held the position of senior court painter in Hanover. Contemporary sources mention Johann Conrad Justus Hunnemann as “court decorator and portraitist”. However, the latter also seems to have portrayed plants and animals: in 1774 he painted a portrait collection of plants, the “Herbarium pictum harbeccense”, for Lord Veltheim, whose cultivation of plants at Harbke Castle was famous throughout Germany. Works by this artist are rare. He painted the likenesses of two Inuit Eskimos for the University of Göttingen who had earlier been portrayed by Nathaniel Dance in London. He was married to Elisabeth Lüders, a daughter of the Hanoverian court painter Johann Franz Lüders. Hunnemann’s name appears in an inventory of the Royal Collections as the author of a portrait of King George III in the Göhrde Hunting Lodge. The present portrait of a trophy might likewise have been installed there. The Göhrde Hunting Lodge, built by Remy de la Fosse in 1709, was one of the most prominent Baroque monuments in Hanover, but was torn down in the nineteenth century.