Draft:Karl Reille

The great-grandson of Marshal Honoré Reille, who had married the daughter of Marshal Masséna, Karl André Jean Marie Reille was born on April 8, 1886 in Paris. His parents were Baron Polyeucte Victor Reille [fr] and Geneviève Million de la Verteville.^[2] Karl's paternal grandmother, Anna Masséna, the daughter of Marshal Masséna, was a talented painter.^[3] Karl's father, Victor, president of Saint-Gobain, painted, exhibited, and sold his works sometimes using a pseudonym: Jack Elsy.^[1] Throughout his youth, Karl followed many hunting packs in Touraine, particularly the Rallye Montpoupon which hunted deer, the Vautrait de Mesnes which hunted boar, and the Rallye Tesson which hunted badger. Karl was also passionate about horse racing, which he depicted with enthusiasm, and became a member of the Jockey Club de Paris.^[1]

At the age of 21, Karl was admitted to the École des Ponts et Chaussées in 1907 and graduated in 1913.^[1] The war took him to Antibes and then to the front at Verdun, where he was captured in September 1914.^[1] Karl regained his freedom in April 1919 and divided his time between Paris, the property of Baudry [fr] that he had taken over, and numerous trips to France among his friends. Baron Karl Reille partnered with his friend Baron Jean de Lauriston to found, in 1921, the Rallye Gaiement which hunted roebucks in the vicinity of Baudry and in the forest of Blois.^[1]

In April 1924, Karl Reille married Odette Goury du Roslan (1897-1970).^[1] They had six children: Céliane, Philippe, Jean-François, Claude, Armelle, and Antoine.^[2]

In 1973, Karl Reille suffered a stomach ulcer. He then had a stroke that left him hemiplegic. He remained permanently at the family château in Baudry, Indre-et-Loire, where he died on May 13, 1975.^[1]

The younger son of Karl Reille (1886-1974), he quickly made a name for himself as an animal painter:^[4][5] he depicts hunting scenes with such skill that he became one of the most famous painters of the hunt in the mid-20th century.^[6] In both in his brilliant watercolors and paintings, he is dedicated to reproducing with care and accuracy the key moments of the chase. Karl Reille is also a huntsman. He attended the hunts and sketches animals in action, various movements of the chase, and packs in full regalia. He thus works as a painter-reporter. Karl Reille began working with oil paints in the 1960s after having primarily used gouache and watercolor up to that point.

• La vénerie française contemporaine. Paris, Adolphe Le Goupy, 1914. Important work presenting the packs existing in France at that time.
• Châteaux et gentilhommières d'Indre-et-Loire. Tours, Tourangelle press, 1934, 188 pages (reprint by Tchou, 2003).
• Le livre des honneurs. Paris, ANCA, 1980.
• La vénerie de Montpoupon, in collaboration with Pierre de La Verteville. Paris, Le Pigache, 2001.
• Mémoires. Paris, Tchou, 2002.
• Le rallye Baudry. Paris, Tchou, 2003.
• Les inédits. Paris, Tchou, 2005.

• Musée International de la Chasse, Gien, 1979
• Galerie La Cymaise, Paris, 1987
• Galerie La Cymaise, Paris, 1990
• Tableaux de Famille, Galerie La Cymaise, Paris, 1993
• Galerie Air de Chasse, Paris
• Exposition de Peintres de Vénerie, Centenaire de la Société de Vénerie, Montpoupon, 2007
• Musée du Veneur, Château de Montpoupon