Animal Study
Artist / maker
Nicolaes Pietersz. Berchem (painters (artists))Date
ca. 1645Period
17 centuryCollection
Museum of Fine Arts Ghent
In the seventeenth century, it was fashionable in the Netherlands to take a trip to Italy. For many painters, the Italian landscape was a predominant theme in their work. The canvases of these ‘Italianate landscape painters’, or ‘Italianates’, were largely fictive, and tended to be bathed in an atmospheric southern light. In this context, the painting exhibited here is not…
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In the seventeenth century, it was fashionable in the Netherlands to take a trip to Italy. For many painters, the Italian landscape was a predominant theme in their work. The canvases of these ‘Italianate landscape painters’, or ‘Italianates’, were largely fictive, and tended to be bathed in an atmospheric southern light. In this context, the painting exhibited here is not to be regarded as a rare animal study by Berchem, as it was until very recently. In reality, Animals is a fragment from a larger work. The ox to the right has been cut in two, quite literally, which disrupts the harmony of the overall composition.
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