Schaap in weidelandschap before 1839

Curator: Well, here we are looking at "Schaap in weidelandschap"—that translates to Sheep in a Meadow Landscape. It's a pencil and watercolor drawing by Salomon de Visser, made before 1839, and what a find it is here at the Rijksmuseum! What strikes you right away? Editor: Honestly? Melancholy. Something about the stark simplicity and the sheep’s gaze just pulls you into a quiet, almost mournful mood. Curator: Interesting, melancholy, you say? For me, the simplicity feels…grounding. De Visser captures the sheep in its element, without romanticizing or adding any drama. Look at the precision in the shading. It's like he’s honoring the everyday. Editor: I see that. But the choice of a lone sheep, almost confrontational, rather than a flock? It makes me think about ideas of marginalization. The social position of animals then and now in industrial society, and frankly, ecological grief at this moment on Earth. Is it anthropomorphizing too much to feel the weight of those larger systems on this animal? Curator: You’re making me consider it in a whole new light. I was caught up in the pastoral beauty, the realism...the artist’s rendering. The technique alone, moving from a pencil sketch to then applying watercolors, speaks to the time and patience invested in the project. Editor: And how that labor speaks to value! Who, and what, has worth in society. Even this sheep rendered in hyper-realistic fashion could be read in relation to broader colonial dynamics, where depictions of landscapes were also tied to claims of ownership and resource extraction. Curator: You’ve given me so much to consider. This drawing now feels larger than itself, reaching far beyond a peaceful meadow. Thank you! Editor: Anytime. It’s vital, isn’t it, that art challenges us. And as always, brings us back to critical, uncomfortable questions of how the world is changing and to whom.