Henri Camille, Chevalier de Beringhen

This portrait by Jean-Baptiste Oudry depicts Henri-Camille de Beringhen, a French nobleman, military officer, and diplomat active in the early 18th century. Rather than being shown in his military uniform or at court, Beringhen chose to be portrayed through the popular genre of hunting portraiture, or portrait en chasseur. This genre was associated with virility, personal authority, and aristocratic control over nature. Seated after a hunt, he poses with elegant confidence, dressed in elaborately embroidered attire while holding a partridge and resting his hand on a hunting dog. The presence of weapons, game, and refined costume communicates status and taste, while also asserting a symbolic mastery over both animals and land. Through this visual language, Beringhen aligns himself with a cultivated, yet instinct-driven identity emblematic of elite masculinity in 18th-century France.