Standing calf to the right 

Editor: So this is "Standing calf to the right", a red chalk drawing probably from the 18th century, by Friedrich Wilhelm Hirt. It’s quite a simple sketch, very linear. What do you make of it? Curator: The immediate thing that strikes me is the economic reality embedded in such a work. Consider the red chalk itself. Where did it come from? Who mined it? The drawing depicts livestock – were they property? Part of agricultural production? What was the calf *for*? These details invite us to consider it not just as a sketch, but a document reflecting the 18th-century rural labor force. Editor: That's interesting! I hadn't thought about it that way. I was more focused on the artist’s skill in capturing the form of the animal with so few lines. Curator: And how was this skill learned and perfected? Likely through repetitive exercises commissioned by wealthy patrons who profited from agriculture, supporting an economy of artistic labor centered on depictions of the source of their wealth: the animals that represent sustenance, trade, and surplus. We can almost reconstruct the art market and the value of labor. Editor: I suppose so. But it still *is* just a drawing of a calf, isn't it? A simple, if skillful, rendering? Curator: Is it “just” a calf, or evidence of a system? It highlights the artist’s labor but also prompts us to question whose calf this was, what purpose it served, and who ultimately benefited from its existence. It links aesthetics to material production and consumption. Editor: So, looking at art from this perspective encourages a wider social and economic reading of art than simply looking at beauty? Curator: Exactly! Every brushstroke, every choice of medium, becomes a window into understanding the material conditions of its creation and its role in the bigger societal picture. Editor: I never thought a calf could be so… loaded.