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Congratulations on having such exquisite taste. This is a remarkable painting. Your reproduction is very good. I have only seen pictures of both Mrs. Crane's reproduction and the original myself. The original is in a museum in France south of Paris in the area noted for hunting. Mrs Crane commissioned a reproduction of it by Fath (I believe, I am doing this from memory). I believe this reproduction is now in the hands of the AKC. Anything now by Fath would be quite noteworthy and probably expensive as well. To me this Oudry painting is a bookmark that documents the breeds history. While two and a half centuries is quite a long time, it is merely a blip in the 5000 year history of the breed. Unfortunately in some hands and places the phenotype of the breed has been altered from what Oudry captured so skillfully. I believe the basic pastoral instincts are still very accurate as well as the essential temperament of the breed across the board. I actually used Oudry's painting in my Pyrenean Time Line in my book, so to me it is very significant documentation of our nobile ancient breed.
Remarkable thing you have done. You are the envy and admiration of us all for doing this.
Joe
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