At the musée de la Chasse et de la Nature

Come with us to a favourite museum in the Marais, a few blocks from the Picasso Museum, at 62 Rue Des Archives.

At the Museum of the Hunt and of Nature you will find art and artifacts about animals and you will find taxidermy.

Climb the entry stairs to St Hubert kneeling before the stag that has a crucifix between its antlers.

We didn't get the date for the St Hubert but the museum's other Miracle of St Hubert was done around 1500.

A 10 foot polar bear stands near the entrance.

A magnificent individual hunted and stuffed prompts mixed feelings. This museum has been designed to allow such feelings and provides an evocative context in which to ponder them.

The living room is hung with tapestries and paintings.

I was enjoying the avid regard of this hunter,

when I looked over my shoulder at the equally avid regard of his prey, I got out of the way.

Across the room Bill acquired a new friend. 

The Chasse Cabinet of Falconry.

This quiet portrait of Philippe le Beau with his falcon was painted around 1490 by one of a number of Belgian artists identified as The  Master of the Legend of Saint Madeleine.

Note to self: in this museum keep an eye on the ceilings.

The taxidermy at the Chasse is heartbreakingly amazing. We love the old-fashioned glass cases.

And we love these lithe leopards effortlessly evoking, even in death, danger and agency.

Thank you la Chasse for this food for thought.

For Bill and I no visit to Paris would be complete without a visit to this surreal museum in the heart of the Marais.