Liggende en een staande koe 1630 - 1691

Aelbert Cuyp made this drawing of two cows, probably in the mid-17th century, with black chalk and grey wash on paper. The softness of the chalk allowed Cuyp to capture the textures of the animals’ hides, and to model their forms with light and shadow. The layering of the grey wash adds depth, particularly in the reclining cow, suggesting weight and volume. As a drawing, it’s far from a finished painting, but it testifies to the importance of working from life. At this time, the Dutch Republic was expanding its agricultural production, and animals like these would have been a common sight in the landscape, a symbol of rural prosperity. Cuyp made many such studies, and would have drawn on them to produce his celebrated landscape paintings, in which cattle often feature prominently. Here, though, the cows are presented without any of the picturesque qualities we find in those finished works. They are simply presented, as if to invite close observation of the everyday.