To køer 1850

Curator: Here we have "To køer," or "Two Cows" created around 1850. This charming drawing is the work of Carl Frederik Bartsch and resides here at the SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark. Editor: Isn't it interesting? My first thought is that the artist didn’t glorify rural life but simply depicted its reality with such careful detail to render the two cows. Curator: Precisely. The pastoral landscape and cows resonate with deep symbols of nature's abundance and our agricultural past. And Bartsch captures the scene in incredible detail using only an engraving on paper! Look how they lounge around the rustic fence corner. It suggests both confinement and connection to the earth, really grounding the viewer. Editor: The positioning of the cows is rather ingenious! That single cow lying down, relaxed but watchful… that's a universally recognizable pose suggesting calmness and contentedness, but perhaps also alertness? Cows, especially dairy cows, also symbolize nurturing. But if this one is lying, maybe she just can't be bothered to work! Curator: Possibly. Though the use of line gives everything from the grass to the tree such immediacy. The technique pulls the scene close, reminding us how crucial livestock has been to communities. You can almost smell the fresh air of the pasture... the air of Denmark. I sense the cows have the upperhand there in any case. Editor: There’s such an unassuming beauty that the artwork contains, as if you've chanced upon this quiet moment yourself. A window back into a simpler time? Or maybe a constant reminder that no matter what else happens, some things endure like nature and art itself. Curator: Yes. There's a simple sort of profundity here isn’t there. Something that really does reach out to you in a quite unmissable manner. I do adore the way it captures such a sense of a time just gently meandering.