Gezicht op het landgoed Nieuw Rande in Diepenveen c. 1900 - 1930

Richard Tepe captured this evocative albumen print of the Nieuw Rande estate in Diepenveen sometime between 1880 and 1910. The most prominent visual symbols here are the cows. The presence of cattle in this scene evokes a sense of pastoral tranquility and agricultural abundance, harking back to ancient symbols of fertility and nourishment. We see similar motifs in ancient Minoan art, where bulls were central to religious life and symbolized virility and power. However, the meaning of these symbols shifts across time. In contrast to their revered status in antiquity, cows in this scene suggest a more mundane, workaday existence. The herd stands passively in the water, their reflections blurred, suggesting a dreamlike, almost melancholic quality. Perhaps Tepe captured not just a scene, but a feeling, a subtle reflection on the changing rhythms of rural life.