Liggende koe, van voren 1826

Jean Bernard made this drawing of a lying cow, titled "Liggende koe, van voren", using pen and grey ink. The texture, achieved through fine hatching, brings a tangible quality to the form of the cow. The drawing captures the animal at rest, filling the pictorial space in such a way that our attention is drawn to the cow's massive yet peaceful presence. Consider the semiotic implications of this seemingly simple pastoral subject. The cow, an age-old signifier of pastoral life, now becomes a site for exploring how meaning is constructed through representation. Bernard uses the cow to communicate a symbolic language. The positioning of the cow, combined with the detailed rendering of its form, destabilizes any fixed reading. The drawing invites ongoing interpretations. The cow here is not just a cow, but a figure through which we interpret themes of nature, representation, and the semiotic structures underlying our perception.