# The Pack Saddle \(le Bat\) [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [SUBLEYRAS, Pierre]() - Date: 1701-1750 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 31 x 24 cm ## Commentary The Pack Saddle is the tale of a suspicious husband who believes himself a cuckold. To protect his wife's chastity he painted an image of an ass over her pudenda. While he is away, his friend, another artist, makes love to her and erases the image. Before doing so, however, he had carefully copied it onto a piece of paper seen lying on the floor. The lover then repainted the image, but added a "pack saddle" \(hence the title of the tale by la Fontaine\). The husband, on returning, notes the change and the consequent proof of his wife's adultery. A variant of the painting exists in the Hermitage. ## Related artworks - [Charon Ferrying the Shades]() - [Christ at the House of Simon the Pharisee]() - [Don Cesare Benvenuti]() - [Investing with Insignia]() - [Mass of St Basil]() - [Portrait of a Man]() - [Portrait of a Man]() - [Self-Portrait before the Easel]() - [St Ambrose Converting Theodosius]() - [The Feast in the House of Simon]() - [The Marriage of St Catherine]() - [The Mass of Saint Basil]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()