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Charming set of six engravings after the Dutch master Paulus Potter, of cows and bulls in pastoral settings. Characteristic of Potter's work, each animal is sensitively drawn, imbued with a distinct personality.
Paulus Potter was a Dutch painter, draftsman and etcher, known as one of the foremost 17th-century artists to depict animals, especially cattle, horses and other farm animals, which he usually depicted in landscape settings. His empathic portraits of animals, focusing on them as subjects rather than part of the backdrop to human action, influenced his contemporaries as well as later generations of European artists. He sketched from life in the countryside, and was also interested in the nuances of animal behavior at different times of day and in different weather conditions. Potter's naturalistic vision of rural life struck a chord with later generations of collectors, and were particularly popular in France and Britain during the late 18th and the 19th centuries. Potter's most celebrated works are the life-size painting Young Bull (1647) in the Mauritshuis musuem in The Hague, and Orpheus Charming the Beasts (1650), in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Other works are in museums such as the National Galleries of Art in the U.S. and the U.K. and The Getty, Los Angeles.
Condition: Generally good with the usual light toning, wear, soiling, soft creases. Margins irregularly cut, but ample, and can be framed as a uniform set.
References:
"Paulus Potter." The Getty. 2000. http://www.getty.edu/art/collections/bio/a262-1.html (16 January 2003).
"Potter." The Grove Dictionary of Art. New York: Macmillan. 2000. Artnet.com. http://www.artnet.com/library/06/0690/T069032.asp (16 January 2003). |
