Muldyr med hønsekurve 1846

Johan Thomas Lundbye created this watercolor work, "Mule with Chicken Coop," on paper. Lundbye was a Danish painter and graphic artist, known for his animal and landscape paintings. He died very young, at age 29, in the First Schleswig War. At first glance this is a simple watercolor of a mule carrying a coop of chickens, but I can't help thinking about the identity of the mule, this beast of burden, and the chickens contained in a cage. I wonder about the circumstances that lead to carrying live fowl in such a manner? Were they being brought to market? The image leaves me with many questions. The coop seems almost too small for the amount of chickens inside it, and it seems to me that Lundbye captured a moment in which animal lives intersect, under conditions dictated by human need and industry.