Two Cows and a Young Bull beside a Fence in a Meadow

1647

During his short life, the prolific Dutch painter and etcher Paulus Potter elevated images of cows, oxen, and other domestic animals to majestic emblems of nature. His lavish attention to the physical appearances of such beasts—the varied texture and coloring of their hair, their characteristic poses, their bulky contours—borders on human portraiture and likely derived from drawings he made from life.

Public domain · CC0
Free to download and reuse. Image courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago.

Artist

Paulus Potter (Dutch, 1625–1654)

Date

1647

Medium

Oil on panel

Dimensions

49.5 × 37.2 cm (19 1/2 × 14 3/4 in.); Framed: 70.2 × 58.1 × 4.5 cm (27 5/8 × 22 7/8 × 1 3/4 in.)

Origin

Netherlands

Collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Credit

In loving memory of Harold T. Martin from Eloise W. Martin, wife, and Joyce Martin Brown, daughter; Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection; Lacy Armour Endowment; through prior gift of Frank H. and Louise B. Woods