BETHANY PASTORIAL: As an equestrian and horse [laughs] enthusiast, I did enjoy how courageous the horses appear. They look like they’re getting ready to do battle.

Hi, my name is Bethany Pastorial and I’m an equine photographer.

In photographs, your eye is drawn to the brightest spot of any image. And in this particular painting, the brightest spot is the gray horse on the right-hand side. That's the first thing that I looked at. And I don’t know that that’s necessarily because I love horses, so much as it seems to be the focal point of the painting, and that comes from the charisma that the horse is showing, the bravery that he’s showing.

You know, breeds are bred purposefully to do a certain job. And in this particular painting, they are performing their job. They are going into the hunt.

ADAM EAKER: It’s important to remember that hunting was an aristocratic prerogative.

NARRATOR: Associate Curator Adam Eaker.

ADAM EAKER: So if you were taking part in the hunt, that was a very important marker of status. And those who had that right, they liked to memorialize or commemorate that right in the art that they surrounded themselves with. And that’s one reason why hunting scenes were such a constant of European art from the Middle Ages really into the twentieth century.

NARRATOR: Before Rubens, viewers were more likely to encounter a massive hunting scene in a woven tapestry rather than in a painting.

ADAM EAKER: One thing that may surprise twenty-first-century viewers of this painting is that it actually would have represented a more affordable option compared to a tapestry. A tapestry on this scale could easily take a year to produce. So actually, having Rubens’ workshop produce a painting to take the place of a tapestry was an economical decision.

NARRATOR: Rubens was an innovator, creating an entirely new kind of painting. One that wealthy—but still cost-conscious buyers—might have wanted in their homes.

BETHANY PASTORIAL: The longer you look at this painting, the more interesting it becomes. And I think that’s what really draws somebody to want to own a piece, in that there’s a storytelling aspect to it. It is a whole story in one image.