Jean-Baptiste Oudry: A Life in Art Jean-Baptiste Oudry, a luminescent figure of the Rococo era, stands as one of France’s foremost animal painters and tapestry designers—a testament to artistic precision and an unwavering devotion to capturing the beauty of the natural world. Born March 17, 1686, in Paris, Oudry descended from a lineage steeped in artistic tradition; his father, Jacques Oudry, was himself a painter and art dealer, fostering within Jean-Baptiste a profound appreciation for visual artistry from an early age. Nicole Papillon, his mother, possessed connections to Jean-Baptiste-M…