Falconry in Algeria: The Quarry

In February 1863 Napoleon III published a letter calling Algeria an Arab kingdom and promising its native people the same protection as the French settlers. That spring, at the Paris Salon, the State bought this painting directly from Fromentin. It shows Arab horsemen out with their falcons at the moment the French call the curée, when the birds are rewarded with the kill. Two kneeling attendants hold the hawks on a hare while they feed. Above them a young rider on a white horse lifts another falcon high on his raised hand, and an older man behind him carries one on his arm. Further back, spare horses wait beneath the cliffs. From the Salon the canvas went to the Musée du Luxembourg, where the State showed the work of living painters.