Artist Unknown
Balthazar Paul Ommeganck
Belgium, b.1755, d.1826 (Manner of)
A Cow
- 1780s
- Oil on canvas
- Purchased 1973
- 510 x 495mm
- 73/259
Tags: animals, brown (color), cows (mammals), flowers (plants), grasses (plants), natural landscapes
This cow belongs to an ancient breed of cattle, once common in Belgium and the Netherlands, but now almost extinct. Called the Kempens rund (Campine cattle), it was bred for milk, cheese, butter and beef; its numbers were greatly reduced during World War I when the farming area where they lived became a battlefield.
This painting is probably by the Flemish painter Balthazar Paul Ommeganck. He was one of many admirers of the Dutch seventeenth-century painter Paulus Potter, who had started something new in painting by making farm animals his main subjects, rather than minor, incidental elements.
(Beasts, 2015)
Exhibition History
Related reading: Beasts
Notes
Zoology
I'm pretty sure the kids at my daughters pre-school haven't seen Cai Guo-Qiang's Heritage, which was commissioned for his show Falling Back To Earth at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane last year.
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The Mouse-trap by Petrus van der Velden
This article first appeared as 'Cleverly caught' in The Press on 14 February 2014.
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It's Showtime!
Today is Show Day here in Canterbury. Over at Canterbury Agricultural Park you can see thousands of animals being put through their paces or if you'd rather, you can look at some of these equally beautiful beasts from our collection.
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Eileen Mayo
It's 107 years since this multi-talented artist, described by art historian Kenneth Clark as 'outstandingly good', was born in Norwich, England.
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Lizard's Lounge
I stumbled into their lair on accident, and found myself in a madhouse of reptilian decree. I immediately froze, in a vain hope they had not noticed me in my peculiarity, but my attempts were feeble, I had been seen. I felt a cold sweat and a shiver ran down my spine as they glared at me with beady black eyes from a nebulous of smoke and dust that choked the room. I was their intruder. One of the lizards mockingly hissed a welcome, 'Please take a seat, you look weary.'
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Loads of bulls
Looking out of the library window at the Kings Manor here in York I can see a bronze calf.
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A Well Timed Care Package
One of the best-timed gifts my family and I have ever received arrived at our home on Mt Pleasant in May.
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Animals
The Gallery's Registration department keeps a close watch on our collection of art, with regular audits to make sure all is as it should be.
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When is a dog a mouse?
Throughout the centuries man has delighted in creating representations of his canine companions.