Liegender Ochse und liegende Kuh 

Curator: This drawing, presently residing at the Städel Museum, is titled "Liegender Ochse und liegende Kuh." That translates from German to "Lying Ox and Lying Cow," and the artwork comes to us from the hand of Friedrich Wilhelm Hirt, though the specific date of creation remains unknown. Editor: The immediate impression I get is...peaceful languor. Like the world's worries simply don't exist, a bovine idyll in graphite and ink. Curator: It's fascinating how Hirt uses such spare lines to evoke that feeling. Notice how the minimal shading creates a sense of mass and volume for these animals. Editor: True. I wonder, though, about the artist’s choice. Cows, of all things, as a subject. Is it simply rural genre, or is there a deeper pastoral ideal at play? It reminds me of those 18th century idealized portraits of aristocracy dressed as milkmaids and shepherds. Curator: Precisely. Genre scenes like these often served as reminders of a simpler life, one connected to the land and to natural cycles, even as industrialization was rapidly changing society. It becomes an ideological symbol as much as an artistic endeavor. The cows themselves are heavy with symbolic baggage. Editor: Baggy baggage! What springs to my mind is ideas of patience, docility. And, perhaps subconsciously, this inherent connection to providing for a community...food, essentially. But back to technique, the contrast between the sharper, focused ink and the smudged pencil—almost like memories fading into each other. It gives it a certain melancholy, don't you think? Curator: I would agree. And it's worth remembering the psychological dimension. Animal representation goes back tens of thousands of years, they’re a staple in visual culture. These images touch upon something fundamentally human within us all. Perhaps there's a desire for closeness to nature itself represented here. Editor: Well, I feel somehow calmer having looked at them! Two very restful ruminants indeed. Curator: It's a reminder that sometimes the simplest scenes contain the most profound cultural meaning.