Landschap met rechts drinkende runderen 1613 - 1666

Curator: This is "Landschap met rechts drinkende runderen"—or "Landscape with cattle drinking to the right"— an etching and print by Nicolas Perelle dating sometime between 1613 and 1666. Editor: Oh, it’s… well, it's busy, isn't it? Like a little world crammed onto a small stage. I'm drawn to the atmospheric perspective though – the way the mountains seem to dissolve into the distance. Curator: The intricacy really speaks to the etching process, doesn’t it? Imagine the labour involved in creating such detail by hand. Perelle was primarily a printmaker, and you can really see him exploring the tonal range that etching allows for. Editor: Absolutely! The cows drinking feel grounded, present, while further up a group of three figures head away. How charming that Perelle brings us close to a specific activity. Do you think it was printed in series, and bought like a tourist card? Curator: Possibly! Prints like this were more accessible than paintings, offering a window into a particular ideal. Also note that Perelle worked in a family tradition. Editor: Right! His father was a painter, printmaker, and architect! This feels so aligned with 17th-century notions of land and property. How land could be 'picturesque', but also profitable. What do you make of the single plume of cloud over the mountain? Curator: It’s dramatic, almost operatic! Given the time, perhaps it represents the divine's gaze upon the land and its resources. It also guides my eyes to the background which otherwise is not a priority to the eye. Editor: That makes so much sense. I hadn’t considered the symbolic weight of something so ethereal. The contrast between the earthly labor of the cattle and the implied divine presence… it gives the scene a lovely tension. I find the way Perelle uses ink to depict labor is masterful in its own right. Curator: A tension that invites reflection, perhaps, on the delicate balance between our needs and the landscapes we depend on. It’s nice to think that centuries ago someone observed those details to etch. Editor: True, I'll never look at landscape the same way, but I will look more to materiality to the creation process, rather than romantic value. Thank you!