Gredinet, Petite Fille et Charlotte, trois épagneuls de Louis XV

This 1727 triple portrait of three spaniels belonging to Louis XV is among the most historically specific of Oudry's surviving animal works: the title names the dogs individually—Gredinet, Petite Fille, and Charlotte—confirming that these were recognised members of the royal household with their own identities. Louis XV's passion for hunting and for his dogs was well documented, and Oudry's official role as painter to the royal hunts made him the natural choice for such intimate records of the king's favourite animals. The Louvre's holding of the work reflects its status as a royal possession from the outset. Spaniel portraiture of this kind had a long precedent in European court painting—Van Dyck had painted Charles I's spaniels, and the genre carried associations of loyalty, aristocratic refinement, and royal favour. Oudry's ability to individualise the three animals—each occupying a distinct temperament and posture—transformed what might have been a decorative record into a portrait series of surprising psychological specificity.

Painting three long-coated spaniels required Oudry to differentiate coat texture, colour, and facial expression across a single canvas without allowing the composition to fragment. He organised the dogs spatially, with one typically elevated or turned differently to break the potential monotony of three similar silhouettes. The silky spaniel coat was rendered through long, flowing brushstrokes rather than the shorter strokes used for hunting dogs.