Studieblad met schapen te Exloo c. 1904 - 1912

Ferdinand Oldewelt made this sketch, titled "Studieblad met schapen te Exloo" or "Study sheet with sheep in Exloo," with graphite on paper. Here we see an artist working within a well-established tradition of rural genre painting and animal studies. By the late 19th century, institutions such as the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, where Oldewelt taught, had codified artistic training around close observation of nature. Artists traveled to the countryside, like Exloo, to find authentic subjects far from the industrialized cities. Consider how the loose sketch style conveys a sense of immediacy, while also domesticating the rural landscape, reducing it to a picturesque scene. To understand the social and cultural value placed on these kinds of images, it would be useful to research the popularity of rural genre painting in the Netherlands during this period and to understand the influence of academic artistic training. Ultimately, the meaning of this artwork is contingent on its historical context.