Born in Paris on March 17, 1686, Jean-Baptiste Oudry was the son of a minor painter and art dealer, Jacques Oudry (c. 1661-1720). Jean Baptiste Oudry was the preeminent animal painter of the first half of the 18th century. Though his father was a painter and art dealer, Oudry’s first serious training came from portrait painter Nicolas de Largillière. By about 1720, the young man was concentrating on animals, hunts, and landscapes. He became a member of the Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1719 and a professor there in 1743.