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| Young Herdsmen with Cows |
Artist:Aelbert Cuyp (Dutch, Dordrecht 1620–1691 Dordrecht)
Date:ca. 1655–60
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:44 1/8 x 52 1/8 in. (112.1 x 132.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913
Accession Number:14.40.616
Cuyp was the most talented member of a family of painters from Dordrecht, where—as elsewhere in Holland—city dwellers entertained idyllic notions of life on the land (a tradition going back to the Roman poets Horace and Virgil). In this sun-blessed landscape under satiny clouds, cows sit around like sofas on a carpet of grass and the three figures (a family?) appear to discuss nothing more urgent than which way they might take an afternoon stroll.
Catalogue Entry
This large and typical work by Cuyp dates from the later years of the artist's activity, about 1655–60. In proposing a comparatively late date, Alan Chong (1992) refers in particular to the handling of the clouds, which have a crispness and "Italianate sheen" not found in works of the early 1650s. The overall composition varies a scheme that the artist had employed for about a decade, but with an assurance that belies the impression of inventing a scene in the studio. Cuyp's familiar idea of aligning parallel cows so that they overlap and gently lead the eye into depth is lent rhythm and grace by the arrangement of the resting animals, which continue the curve of the hill. The foursome serves as a foil to the crowning motif, a standing black cow silhouetted against the bright sky and facing in the opposite direction. The aesthetic refinement of the work is suited to its subject, which has been described as a "Dordrecht Arcadia." In other contexts, the cow could serve as a national emblem, or as a sign of Dutch prosperity. In Cuyp's hometown, it is possible that such a painting would have evoked personal associations, since a number of his patrons owned farms in the area.
Comparisons with Cuyp's drawings of cattle show how important these studies were for his paintings, and also how the artist tended to idealize the animals in the final work. In addition to landscape and animals, Cuyp also drew studies of plants like those to the lower right, the largest of which may be butterbur.
A copy after this picture was sold at Sotheby's, Amsterdam, on April 29, 1985 (no. 273, canvas, 42 1/2 x 50 3/8 in.).
[2011; adapted from Liedtke 2007]
Copyright Image
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