.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Writing in the catalogue of the exhibition devoted to the artist in 1995, Edwin Buijsen praised this picture as 'one of the high points of Potter's oeuvre' (op. cit., p. 138). Comparing it to the Cattle in a Meadow, also dated 1652, in the Mauritshuis, The Hague (op. cit. no 25), he observed that Potter often repeated favoured designs and motifs during these years. However, he singled out the present lot for its invention, contrasting it to the Mauritshuis' picture for its 'original and varied composition', commending the 'diversity in the colours and poses of the cattle. Each animal is captured superbly, such as the brown ox in the right foreground, which could fall asleep at any moment, or the animal with the white coat flecked with orange which is lying down chewing the cud with eyes narrowed on the other side of the picture'. The exceptional naturalism of the landscape details he also admired: 'the tree-stump mottled with moss and mildew, and the many flowers in the foreground, are extremely life like.'
To underscore 'the exceptional quality of this painting' (op. cit., p. 140), Buijsen further contrasted it to two other paintings dated 1652 of cattle in meadows, namely a picture from the collection of Louis XVI which enjoyed a great reputation in the eighteenth century and which is in the Louvre (op.cit.., p. 138, fig. 1), which he found by comparison 'rather dull and uninspired'; and a picture formerly in the Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Collection (Hofstede de Groot, op. cit., no. 26) which he found 'rather mechanical.' A picture which the author concluded was closer in quality is the Cattle at Rest in a Meadow, also dated 1652 (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, inv. no. 1630), which features different animals but a comparable originality of design.
The church tower in the distance is probably based on the Reformed Church at Voorschoten, whose four corner turrets denoted its status as the mother church of four chapels in the vicinity. As Buijsen pointed out (op. cit., p. 140), its distinctive spire can be seen in landscapes by other artists active in The Hague, such as Jan van Goyen and Jacob van der Croos, and is probably that depicted in one of the etchings of Potter's series of horses (op. cit., no. 48).
A copy of the present picture was in the collection of Hugo Engleson, Malmö, Sweden. The recumbent ox chewing its cud at the lower left is repeated in another signed work of 1652, which was in the collection of Marcus Kappel in Berlin at the beginning of this century (ibid., p. 140, nos. 1 and 2).
To underscore 'the exceptional quality of this painting' (op. cit., p. 140), Buijsen further contrasted it to two other paintings dated 1652 of cattle in meadows, namely a picture from the collection of Louis XVI which enjoyed a great reputation in the eighteenth century and which is in the Louvre (op.cit.., p. 138, fig. 1), which he found by comparison 'rather dull and uninspired'; and a picture formerly in the Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Collection (Hofstede de Groot, op. cit., no. 26) which he found 'rather mechanical.' A picture which the author concluded was closer in quality is the Cattle at Rest in a Meadow, also dated 1652 (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, inv. no. 1630), which features different animals but a comparable originality of design.
The church tower in the distance is probably based on the Reformed Church at Voorschoten, whose four corner turrets denoted its status as the mother church of four chapels in the vicinity. As Buijsen pointed out (op. cit., p. 140), its distinctive spire can be seen in landscapes by other artists active in The Hague, such as Jan van Goyen and Jacob van der Croos, and is probably that depicted in one of the etchings of Potter's series of horses (op. cit., no. 48).
A copy of the present picture was in the collection of Hugo Engleson, Malmö, Sweden. The recumbent ox chewing its cud at the lower left is repeated in another signed work of 1652, which was in the collection of Marcus Kappel in Berlin at the beginning of this century (ibid., p. 140, nos. 1 and 2).