Vier geiten in een stal 1879 - 1932

Adolf Eduard Herstein made this etching, "Four Goats in a Stable," sometime before his death in 1932. In its time, animal paintings were considered low in the hierarchy of artistic genres, as they were not considered to require as much skill or intellectual engagement as other types of art, such as history painting or portraiture. The Netherlands has a strong tradition of animal paintings, in part due to the country’s history of agriculture and animal husbandry. Here, the artist uses the graphic medium of etching to focus on the goats’ forms, and the details of the stable around them. While seemingly simple and straightforward, Herstein’s image is informed by a set of conventions and expectations about the relationship between humans and animals, and the role of art in representing that relationship. To understand an image like this fully, historians look to a wide range of resources, including historical studies of Dutch agriculture, the market for animal paintings in the early 20th century, and critical analyses of the politics of representing animals in art.