Boomgaard met kalveren 1921

Leo Gestel made this drawing, Boomgaard met kalveren, with brush and pen in ink around the start of the twentieth century. Gestel was a Dutch artist, who was developing his style around the time that the Netherlands was industrializing, intensifying agricultural production, and solidifying its place in international trade networks. Gestel would have been aware of all of this. The decision to make an image of a group of calves relaxing in a meadow is more than just a nice scene, it's a commentary on the changing Dutch landscape. Gestel uses visual codes to express the animals’ serenity as they rest. To look closer, we can ask: what were the exhibition venues available to Gestel? What was the market for animal drawings? We may come to see Boomgaard met kalveren as an expression of a particular moment in Dutch social and institutional history.