Series of various oxen and cows ('Het Bullenboekje'). Plate 5. The cow with the crumpled horn.

item details

NameSeries of various oxen and cows ('Het Bullenboekje'). Plate 5. The cow with the crumpled horn.

ProductionPaulus Potter; etcher; circa 1650; Netherlands

Classificationprints, etchings, works on paper

Materialsink, paper

Materials Summaryetching

Techniquesetching

DimensionsImage: 137mm (width), 99mm (height)

Registration Number1869-0001-387

Credit lineGift of Bishop Monrad, 1869

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 Guild of Saint Luke in 1646, and later moved to The Hague. He is said to have wandered the Dutch countryside, sketchbook in hand, equally sensitive to how farm animals behave at different times of day and to light's vicissitudes from morning to dusk. Few of his contemporaries were more attuned to nature's moods or to the timeless harmony of beast, landscape, and weather. Potter's strong feeling for composition is seen in the way he grouped forms and used silhouette. Besides his paintings, he produced some two dozen etchings of animal subjects. After his death, Marcus de Bye made many more etchings after Potter's designs, and these are well represented in Te Papa's collection.

This etching provides a marked contrast to the serenity of the cows depicted in earlier prints. It is plate 7 of the Series of various oxen and cows (Het Bullenboekje) (Hollstein), first published by Frederick de Wit in Amsterdam, 1650. Two oxen are fighting in a meadow, the first with a pied pelt, seen in profile with his head lowered; the second is in three-quarter view, with his head lowered, tail raised, and horns locked with his foe. What will be the outcome?

There are probably eight prints in Potter's 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.

Sources:

British Museum Collection online, https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1478764&partId=1&searc hText=Paulus+Potter+plate+5&page=1