Herdsman with Two Cows and A Dog 18th-19th century

Editor: This is Carl Wilhelm Kolbe’s “Herdsman with Two Cows and a Dog.” It's a print, and what strikes me is how the human presence seems so small against the grandeur of nature. What narratives do you see at play here? Curator: I see a loaded tableau. Kolbe, working in a period of burgeoning Romanticism, presents us with the shepherd as a figure complicit in land use. Do you see the potential critique of idyllic rural life? Editor: Critiquing it? I guess I was focused on the harmony, not the power dynamics. Curator: Exactly! Who benefits from this pastoral scene? Kolbe hints at the social structures underpinning this seemingly natural world, and how they're gendered, classed and racialized. What does that say about the "natural" hierarchy? Editor: Wow, I didn't even consider that. So much for a peaceful landscape! Curator: Precisely. Art is never neutral. It’s a reflection of its time, and Kolbe is subtly questioning the dominant ideologies. Editor: I'll never look at pastoral scenes the same way again. Thanks!