Heuvelachtig landschap met twee geitenhoeders 1620 - 1686

Editor: Right now, we're looking at "Heuvelachtig landschap met twee geitenhoeders"—or "Hilly landscape with two goatherds"—an etching from between 1620 and 1686, currently residing here at the Rijksmuseum. It’s by Nicolas Cochin. What a mouthful! At first glance, it strikes me as both detailed and dreamlike, a rustic escape rendered in shades of grey. What captures your attention? Curator: Well, doesn’t it pull you right in? The stark contrast almost gives it the quality of a half-remembered tale. Look how Cochin uses those dramatic baroque elements— the sweeping, almost theatrical landscape, the heightened sense of drama, even in this pastoral scene! It’s almost as if he's saying, "tranquility is beautiful, but even a goat has a story." Do you get that sense of a hidden narrative too? Editor: I do! The light and shadows definitely amplify that. The goats and goatherds almost feel secondary to the landscape itself. How does the medium – an etching – affect our experience of the work? Curator: Good question! Think of etching as like, scratching secrets into copper. The fine lines let Cochin create a truly stunning level of detail – that lets the landscape take centre stage as you say – almost overwhelming the figures! What I love is that, this way, the land becomes the story. It murmurs, broods even, if you allow it. Editor: That makes sense! I was so focused on the subject, I overlooked that technical mastery. It really shifts how I see it. I keep wanting to look deeper into those shaded areas. Curator: Exactly! And what stories do *you* imagine they whisper? Editor: It feels a little less like an escape now, and more like a place steeped in its own history… Maybe something melancholic. Thanks – I hadn’t considered it that way! Curator: Art is the adventure of a lifetime; isn't it a delight? There's no true north, but it offers us so many little winks to show us a direction.