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Hunting was one of the favourite pastimes of the country nobility during the seventeenth century. Elegant hunting scenes appealed to aristocratic art collectors who were able to identify with them and saw their rank and prestige reflected in them. With a number of variations in subject matter, it was possible to cater for a great diversity of tastes. Setting Out on the Hunt, and its pendant, also in Dresden, number among Wouwerman's later works. They date from a period in which his attention was chiefly devoted to hunting scenes. Indeed, about two hundred paintings on this theme are known from his hand.
In this painting the horses have been saddled and the hounds are waiting in front of a grand country house for the chase to begin. The scene is aristocratic in character, as can be seen not only from the noble villa, but also from the sculptures adorning the buildings, the Baroque fountain, and the elegance of the hunting party. Wouwerman introduces a touch of genre painting into the work by placing a mother with two children squatting on the ground and a beggar asking for alms to the left of the picture.
The elegant subject matter, the expansive southern landscape, the horses caught most faithfully in their movements, the depictions of figures with loving attention to detail, and the sensitive use of colour are all typical of Wouwerman's late period.
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