Kop van een koe 1834 - 1890

This is Charles Verlat's "Kop van een Koe," a striking image made using etching techniques. The bull's head is a powerful symbol across cultures, embodying virility, strength, and even divinity. The image harkens back to ancient Minoan bull-leaping rituals and the sacred bulls of Egypt, where the animal was associated with fertility and power. Even the mythical Minotaur, half-man, half-bull, speaks to our primal fascination with this creature. In the classical world, we see Zeus transforming himself into a bull to abduct Europa. Consider how the bull motif resurfaces in Picasso's "Guernica," transformed into a symbol of brute force and suffering. This reveals how symbols retain a core essence, yet are continuously reinterpreted to reflect the anxieties of each new era. The bull persists as an emblem of raw power, a motif deeply embedded in our collective consciousness.