[Prize Cow and Calf] 1859

This is a photograph by Horatio Ross entitled, "Prize Cow and Calf." In a muted palette of sepias, we see a cow standing next to a calf, held by a man against the backdrop of a stone wall with two windows. Ross has captured the texture of the animal's hide and the rough stone using the then new medium of photography. The composition is neatly divided, vertically. To the left is the bulk of the prize cow and her calf. They are positioned in front of the stark stone wall. To the right, the farmer holds the cow on a rope. The wall suggests a sense of place, but it also acts as a geometrical device, organizing the image into contrasting textural halves. The photograph engages with a complex interplay of nature and culture. Ross seems to be making a claim for the artistic potential of photography by framing his animal subjects within a structured, almost classical composition.