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Overview
When Paulus Potter (1625-54) died of tuberculosis before he was 30 years old, he had already profoundly influenced the way animals are depicted in European art. Potter created portraits of animals, making them his picture's focus, not just a backdrop for human action. The precocious son of a painter, his first dated work is from 1640. He entered Delft's
This etching depicts a cow standing in a paddock and another, seen from behind, lying down. The foreground cow is not so much a picture of an animal as a portrait, viewed from close up and with obvious sympathy on the artist's part. It is Plate 2 of the Series of various oxen and cows (Het Bullenboekje) (Hollstein), first published by Frederick de Wit in Amsterdam, 1650. There are eight prints in the set, and of these Te Papa currently has plates 2, 4, 5 and 7. All of them were presented to the Colonial Museum by Bishop Ditlev Monrad in 1869.
See: J. Paul Getty Museum, 'Paulus Potter', http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/259/paulus-potter-dutch-1625-1654/
Dr Mark Stocker Curator, Historical International Art April 2019