Studieblad. Studier af køer, i midten malke-vognen med tre piger og en røgter 1844

This study sheet of cows, including a milk cart with three girls and a herder, was made by Johan Thomas Lundbye. The sepia ink drawing on paper creates a visual experience dominated by flowing lines and the textural contrast between the detailed foreground and the suggested background. Lundbye’s choice to concentrate on line work, rather than fully modeling the forms with shadow, gives a sense of immediacy and movement. This aligns with an interest in capturing fleeting moments. The varied perspectives and scales of the cows disrupt any conventional sense of space, challenging the viewer's expectation of a unified composition. The sketch-like quality undermines the idea of a finished, authoritative representation. It instead embraces a fragmented, provisional mode of seeing. This piece reflects broader Romantic ideals of celebrating nature and rural life, whilst simultaneously questioning the stability of visual representation itself.