Kip en drie katten op een erf 1666

Cornelis Saftleven made this drawing of a hen and three cats in the 17th century, but we don't know exactly when. Saftleven was working in a Dutch Republic that had just won its independence from Spain and was asserting itself as a major economic and cultural power. In the art world, there was a growing market for genre scenes and animal studies. This work seems to be part of that interest in depictions of everyday life, in which we see the rising merchant class in the Netherlands buying and displaying art. Saftleven's choice of subject matter speaks to the values of his society, reflecting the domestic sphere and the natural world. The drawing, made in pen and brown ink, with gray wash, is rendered in a rather loose sketch-like style, and one wonders if this was done for his own pleasure or as a study for a more finished artwork. Looking at works such as this one, historians turn to sources such as period writings on aesthetics and the market to develop a richer and more nuanced understanding of the cultural and social forces that shaped artistic production.