Heuvellandschap met drie schaapskoppen 1500 - 1551

Editor: This is “Heuvellandschap met drie schaapskoppen,” or “Landscape with Three Sheep’s Heads,” by Domenico Beccafumi, dating from sometime between 1500 and 1551. It's a charcoal drawing on paper, here at the Rijksmuseum. There’s a vulnerability in this piece. I mean, you can almost feel the flock’s gentle wool and timid gaze just by observing the image. What’s your read? Curator: Timid gaze… yes! But also something more, I think. These aren't idealized, pastoral sheep, are they? There's a kind of earthy directness to them – they almost feel like portraits, not just studies. And the landscape itself... it’s hazy, unreal, almost as if he is capturing the impression of a dream. Have you ever woken up, feeling that soft-focus sense of memory struggling to retain a landscape? Editor: Definitely, I think the ethereal background complements that portrait-like feel. Were studies of animal heads common during the Renaissance? Curator: Not necessarily *heads* specifically, but preparatory drawings, life studies were crucial. Think about how many altarpieces feature sheep, symbolic of the flock of God. What better way to capture that feeling than to study their individual characters, don't you think? Beccafumi is exploring the intersection of nature and spirit. He seems fascinated by that point where the mundane reveals the divine, through the simple features of his sheeps, don't you agree? Editor: That's a side I hadn’t considered! So, maybe the drawing served a bigger symbolic purpose then. Curator: Exactly! It might have informed something far grander than the sum of its humble materials, something he hoped to paint… a piece of his soul, so to speak! Editor: Wow, seeing this sketch now in that light gives me such a fresh perspective! Curator: It does, doesn’t it? It's like finding a secret world in a whisper.