Recumbent Cow
Medium
etching
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.8224
Art Historical Context
In the tranquil etching *Recumbent Cow* (1657), Dutch Golden Age artist Adriaen van de Velde captures the gentle repose of a resting bovine with remarkable sensitivity. At just 21 years old van de Velde—a master of landscape and animal painting—demonstrates his precocious talent in this intimate study. Housed in the National Gallery of Art'swald Collection (Department CG-E), this print exemplifies the 17th-century Dutch fascination with nature's quiet beauty amid the era's economic prosperity and scientific curiosity about the natural world. Van de Velde's style blends realism with poetic lyr...
About the Artist
Adriaen van de Velde · 1636–1672
Adriaen van de Velde (1636–1672) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, draftsman, and etcher renowned for his luminous pastoral landscapes and his extraordinary versatility. Born in Amsterdam, he was the son of the marine painter Willem van de Velde the Elder and brother of the marine painter Willem van de Velde the Younger. He studied under Jan Wijnants, a landscape specialist, and possibly under Phili...