Twee koeien in een weide 1848 - 1879

Curator: Looking at this, I immediately feel a sense of calm, you know? It’s muted, the tones, the activity. It is as if time slows down watching those cows there. Editor: Indeed. What we're looking at is a print entitled "Twee koeien in een weide," or "Two Cows in a Meadow." The piece, rendered sometime between 1848 and 1879, comes to us from the hand of Jan Stobbaerts. The artist employed an etching technique, a popular means of reproduction during the mid-19th century, allowing the widespread distribution of art to burgeoning middle classes. Curator: Oh, etching. I can see that delicacy now. The lines, they almost vibrate, don't they? There’s a tangible contrast to it though - that very fragile mark making showing a sturdy, unshakeable beast! Editor: Exactly. Etching was, for all intents and purposes, part of the burgeoning market revolution of that era; so that, even as Stobbaerts offers us these very traditional rural subjects, his very method spoke to seismic social and economic shifts. We also must understand the context of the time. Land was everything. Curator: Cows! They were like… currency, right? Showing a calm field with cows says, "We have our basics covered. Life is good." Editor: More than just 'good,' the ownership of healthy livestock and productive farmland became deeply embedded in constructions of national identity. These images often acted as a sort of reassuring myth at a time when traditional rural life was undergoing considerable change through urbanization and industrial development. Curator: So, almost propaganda! I wouldn't have guessed with how still the meadow looks. So unassuming, so quiet. Makes you wonder what was brewing under the surface, doesn't it? The way that reclining cow looks so solid and comfortable is reassuring, somehow. Maybe because it obscures that social context... I see calm before commerce here. Editor: Perhaps so, and I would wager that a healthy dose of sentimentality was a component of its original popularity. All of which adds another layer to its meaning for our audiences today. Curator: I am going to remember that phrase about 'reassuring myth'. Thanks, I love it.