Liggende koe 1750 - 1809

Curator: This drawing is called "Liggende koe," which translates to "Reclining Cow." It was created with pen and ink, with etching, by David Alphonse de Sandoz-Rollin sometime between 1750 and 1809. Editor: My goodness, what a mood! I feel… peaceful just looking at it. So understated, you know? The sort of languid summer afternoon that smells of hay and warm earth. Curator: It is rather calming. Sandoz-Rollin was Swiss, from a family connected to the Prussian court, and served in various military roles before becoming a chamberlain. He spent considerable time managing the family estate, and that might explain his evident familiarity with agricultural scenes. Editor: Definitely a portrait from life! It feels like the artist just captured a moment—like they stumbled across this very chilled cow in a field and had to quickly sketch it before it wandered off or got up. Curator: Well, it's fascinating how the drawing itself functions as a record of a specific relationship to animal husbandry, labor, and landscape. Consider the etches, the ink – products of complex social systems... Editor: Oh, I agree completely! The materiality here, that simple contrast of light and shadow… it really enhances that sense of observed reality, right? The sun on the cow's flank, the tiny, frantic scratching marks that capture the texture of the earth and the light. Curator: Right. It's also interesting to consider that this piece exists now primarily for our aesthetic consumption. Its connection to agricultural production becomes almost invisible. We look at the form, the artistic intention. Editor: But even then, you know, the curve of its back, the way it occupies its space, I can feel the weight of that beast. Like it’s radiating a palpable sense of contentment. A portrait of a cow, but also a glimpse into a certain bucolic paradise that exists, perhaps, only in memory. Curator: It's a nice tension, between observation, artistry and context... almost makes me wish I could trade my gallery shoes for a pair of muddy boots. Editor: It makes you want to moo in contentment, eh? This really embodies the whole rural idyll thing, huh? Wonderful piece to meditate over… makes you long for a simpler existence.