Resting Cow with a Mill 1888

Editor: This is "Resting Cow with a Mill," painted in 1888 by Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst. It's an oil painting – quite small, I think. The cow just seems to blend into the field, taking a rest. The painting evokes a feeling of serenity. How do you interpret this work? Curator: I notice immediately how the labor involved in depicting such a pastoral scene is carefully masked, particularly when one considers the labor connected to milling that the title references. How does this depiction, in oil on canvas, reinforce the romantic ideal of rural labor while simultaneously distancing itself from its more arduous realities? Look at the impasto technique; do the thick daubs of paint celebrate or obscure the true working conditions of the period? Editor: That's an interesting perspective! I was initially focused on the visual elements, but thinking about the labor that went into creating both the scene and the painting…it shifts my understanding. Is the cow's "rest" perhaps symbolic of the perceived leisure of rural life, a carefully constructed facade? Curator: Precisely! Roland Holst engages in a fascinating game. The material reality of the paint, applied so thickly, could be interpreted as a kind of 'honest' representation of the work involved. But does it challenge the traditional hierarchy between fine art and more humble forms of production? Are we meant to see it simply as brushstrokes, or are they indices of the social and economic context in which this idyllic vision was made? Editor: So, you are suggesting that the way it's painted reflects on the economic forces at play and our interpretation of labour then? Curator: Exactly! The very materiality and production challenges the division of art and production of goods. Think about the availability of materials like oil paint and canvas in relation to other kinds of labour and their materials. Editor: Wow, that gives me a lot to consider. I will definitely keep in mind to look past what is presented on the surface and see what is happening in the artwork and around it! Curator: Yes, consider always the layers and realities masked under apparent idyll.