Grazend kalf 1659 - 1709

Curator: The "Grazing Calf", likely dating between 1659 and 1709, an engraving on paper attributed to an anonymous artist, depicts a pastoral scene now held in the Rijksmuseum collection. Editor: Immediately striking is the image's quiet stillness; the muted tones evoke a feeling of serenity and the simple scene offers a respite from complexity. Curator: The choice of engraving, as a readily reproducible medium, signals its accessibility, pointing to a broader distribution of landscape art and perhaps suggesting a growing urban audience interested in agrarian scenes. The materials and process of production are key to understanding its reach. Editor: Yes, but also think about who controls representation. Whose idealized version of rural life is this? The calf itself, front and center, suggests a veneration of the agrarian cycle—likely obscuring the harsh realities of agricultural labor. Its innocence contrasts with potential social inequities inherent in the Dutch Golden Age economy. Curator: I find the textures particularly fascinating. The engraver’s meticulous rendering of the calf’s fur and the grassy knoll draws attention to craft—to the hand involved in mediating our view of nature. The labor intensiveness is notable, considering it may have been circulated quite widely as a commodity. Editor: And labor within that animal’s very existence is obscured. This image offers a chance to interrogate how power structures permeate even seemingly innocent depictions of the natural world, especially considering colonial contexts and animal ethics within systems of production and consumption. Curator: Absolutely. Understanding how images are materially made helps deconstruct perceived notions of ‘naturalness’ within those depictions. Editor: Thinking critically about what stories images *aren't* telling might teach us even more. Curator: Precisely. What the image elides is sometimes just as, or perhaps more, significant.