Three Cows 1646 - 1672

Curator: So, what’s your immediate impression of this work, which is called “Three Cows”? Adriaen van de Velde executed it sometime between 1646 and 1672. It's an etching, currently residing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: Well, right off the bat, it strikes me as surprisingly… contemplative. For cows! There’s a quiet stillness about it, despite the fact that, you know, it's cows just hanging out in a field. But there's more to it than that: what's your reading of the imagery? Curator: Indeed, these seemingly simple pastoral scenes in Dutch Golden Age art often carried symbolic weight. Cows, in particular, can be interpreted in several ways. On the surface, they represent the prosperity of the Dutch Republic, its agricultural wealth. They also represented pastoral idealism but what lies deeper? Editor: The stillness… it almost feels like a memory, a nostalgic gaze back at a simpler time. The realism is so striking, yet there's this layer of, well, something almost melancholic, or something… is that just me? Curator: Not at all. This etching demonstrates the artist's keen observation. And yes, realism was prized. However, beyond the immediate, cows were very common in art in general: it may allude to deeper concepts of mother earth, domestic tranquility, innocence. How it reflected on the population's concept of that. Editor: Thinking about memory again: these cows are archetypes more than portraits, then? They feel so tangible, so earthy but they also don’t. Van de Velde totally captures how cows are more than cows. Curator: Precisely! Consider too that Dutch art of this period served to solidify a burgeoning national identity. Even something as simple as cows grazing reinforces a sense of belonging to a specific place and history, and that ties heavily to cultural memory, I'd say. Editor: That's a great point, so seeing the cows in a field in front of us helps us to understand the cultural ideals around it too? Makes you wonder what modern day cows would say about us! Curator: It is this blending of realism and idealisation which gives Dutch Golden Age art, including this piece, its enduring appeal, right? Editor: Absolutely. Next time I'm feeling lost, I will gaze on three cows for answers!