Titelprent met kippen, konijnen en een duif 1844

Eugène Verboeckhoven created this print of chickens, rabbits, and a dove in 1846. During the 19th century, the artistic representation of animals was often intertwined with societal views on nature, domestication, and the relationship between humans and the natural world. The image is a snapshot of domesticated animals, penned in for our observation. The artist seems interested in capturing their likeness. The rooster exudes masculine pride, while the rabbits are captured in a tender embrace; but is this a truthful observation of the natural world? Or is it a projection of human values onto these animals? The inscription on the stone backdrop suggests a human desire to immortalize these creatures, to capture a moment of rural harmony. But as viewers, we might also question the power dynamics at play when humans curate and control nature for their own aesthetic and ideological purposes.