Geit en een kip 1839 - 1872

Curator: This delicate pencil drawing is titled "Geit en een kip," or "Goat and a Chicken," created sometime between 1839 and 1872. The artist, Johannes Tavenraat, rendered these farm animals with spare lines on a paper support. Editor: My initial feeling is… economical. The lines are so spare, but they capture the essence of these creatures. It almost feels like witnessing the artist thinking on the page. Curator: Absolutely. Think of the deeper significance of pairing these animals. Goats, throughout history, have symbolized vitality and stubbornness, while chickens often embody domesticity, sometimes even timidity. Is Tavenraat hinting at a contrast? Or perhaps a harmonious coexistence? Editor: Or, given the period, and thinking about the paper itself – what kind of paper was it, how readily available? Was this expensive drawing paper, carefully sourced? Or just the back of some scrap Tavenraat had to hand in the workshop? The level of detail and attention to form seems more appropriate for some luxury art paper. Curator: That's fascinating to consider, shifting from symbol to the physical reality of making. You are nudging me to question the circumstances. Consider too, the context. Tavenraat's lifetime was a time of great agricultural change, and of Land Art and Romanticism too. Are these simply farm animals or emblems of changing rural life? Editor: Well, if this was a preparatory sketch, an exercise – where does it lead? What paintings, or finished works did it inspire? We know he trained a lithographer too, I wonder if his materials informed those graphic choices as well. Curator: This little sketch is far more loaded than one might assume at first glance! Its humbleness becomes quite profound when considering its artistic intentions. Editor: Agreed. The quickness of line also makes me wonder what everyday agricultural changes he saw. Curator: Thank you, that adds another vital layer. What appears at first to be a simple sketch now feels full of these multiple threads: of history, making, and meaning. Editor: It reminds me that even the simplest artworks hold untold histories and questions about the processes of their making.