Rabbits 

Curator: There’s something quite endearing about this piece. It’s called "Rabbits," and the artist is George Morland. The medium appears to be oil paint. What do you make of it? Editor: Immediately, I'm struck by the warmth. It feels surprisingly intimate. The earthy tones, the close quarters of the hutch. It’s not just a painting of rabbits; it’s a glimpse into their tiny world. It almost makes you wonder what role animals play in art and the art world as a whole? Curator: Exactly. Morland, he often painted scenes of rural life. This image could be seen to participate within wider structures of the agricultural system that had strong implications for class at the time, as rabbits, sometimes, stood for lower-class hunting practices. He had a real knack for capturing a certain bucolic ideal that the elites wished to embrace and adopt. It's less about idealising the rabbits, but, more generally, an interest in an image that participates within the context of its moment. Editor: I see what you mean. It does connect to larger trends and a romanticized notion of a rural way of life, even when the reality was often far from idyllic. Do you see the one nibbling at what is presumably dinner? I am drawn to this specific interaction, to the domestic simplicity, maybe, an unconscious sense of social stratification? Curator: The detail is lovely, isn't it? And the lighting too; how it catches the soft fur, brings this out beautifully. There’s a gentle sort of vulnerability about them, don't you think? Especially, if you think about them and how paintings in general circulated amongst different kinds of classes and folks during the time it was made. Editor: Absolutely, you get a real sense of their fragility and what may have served as an interest amongst elites at the time, even an odd one considering some of the other political contexts and the social reality that had different types of tensions occurring simultaneously. Curator: So, in the end, beyond the cozy scene of rabbits at dinner, we see a commentary on the times, on the way society viewed itself, or wished to be viewed. Editor: And perhaps a subtle nod to the power dynamics that existed. A simple animal portrait, laden with context and questions.