''The Young Bull'' ( nl, De jonge stier) or ''The Bull''The Bull
Mauritshuis. Retrieved on 11 December 2014. ( nl, De stier) is an

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

of a

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

Paulus Potter Paulus Potter (; 20 November 1625 (baptised) – 17 January 1654 (buried)) was a Dutch painter who specialized in animals within landscapes, usually with a low vantage point. Before Potter died of tuberculosis at the age of 28 he succeeded in ...

. It is in the collection of the Mauritshuis in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. At about life-size, this is an unusually monumental

animal painting An animal painter is an artist who specialises in (or is known for their skill in) the portrayal of animals. The '' OED'' dates the first express use of the term "animal painter" to the mid-18th century: by English physician, naturalist and wr ...

that challenges the

hierarchy of genres A hierarchy of genres is any formalization which ranks different genres in an art form in terms of their prestige and cultural value. In literature, the epic was considered the highest form, for the reason expressed by Samuel Johns ...

by its almost heroic treatment of an animal. The large size allows space for very detailed realism, including a number of flies, that was both admired and criticised, especially in the 19th century. The painting is signed and dated 1647, meaning that Potter, who was born in November 1625, was only 22 when he completed it; he died in 1654, before he reached 30. The painting was highly admired in the 18th and 19th centuries; in the 1870s the French artist and critic Eugène Fromentin asserted confidently that it, Rembrandt's ''

The Night Watch ''Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq'', also known as ''The Shooting Company of Frans Banning Cocq and Willem van Ruytenburch'', but commonly referred to as ''The Night Watch'' ( nl, De Nachtwacht), i ...

'', and his ''

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp ''The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp'' is a 1632 oil painting on canvas by Rembrandt housed in the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, the Netherlands. The painting is regarded as one of Rembrandt's early masterpieces. In the work, Nicolaes Tu ...

'' (also in the Mauritshuis) were the three most famous paintings in the

. The painting was eventually enlarged by Potter, who added extra strips of canvas on both sides and at the top to his original composition, which just included the bull itself. The village in the background is

Rijswijk Rijswijk (), formerly known as Ryswick ( ) in English, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Its population was in , and it has an area of , of which is water. The municipality also includes t ...

, between Delft and The Hague. Paintings of animals in landscape were Potter's speciality, this is the largest apart from his single life-size

equestrian portrait An equestrian portrait is a portrait that shows the subject on horseback. Equestrian portraits suggest a high-status sitter, who in many cases was a monarch or other member of the nobility, and the portraits can also carry a suggestion of chivalry ...

; most of his works are far smaller. The bull was a symbol of prosperity to the Dutch, hitherto overlooked in art, and apart from the horse was by far the most commonly shown animal in

Dutch Golden Age painting Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republ ...

; goats were used to indicate Italy. This is an enormous and famous portrait which was in the

Prince William V Gallery The Prince William V Gallery is an art gallery on the Buitenhof in The Hague that currently shares an entrance with the Gevangenpoort museum. It is a recreation of the original gallery ''Galerij Prins Willem V'', once founded there by William V, ...

collection that Napoleon took to Paris in 1795 and through a later treaty was returned in 1815. It hung in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

for 20 years. Livestock analysts have noted from the depiction of the various parts of the bull's anatomy that it appears to be a composite of studies of six different animals from widely different ages. Like the equally life-size bird in

Jan Asselijn Jan Asselijn (c.1610 – October 1, 1652) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Biography Asselijn was born at Dieppe from a French Huguenot family as ''Jean Asselin''. He received instruction from Esaias van de Velde (1587–1630), and distingu ...

's ''

The Threatened Swan ''The Threatened Swan'' ( nl, De bedreigde zwaan)The Threatened Swan, Jan As ...

'' (1650), the bull can also function as a symbol of the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

. Probably not until ''

Whistlejacket ''Whistlejacket'' is an oil on canvas painting from about 1762 by the British artist George Stubbs showing the Marquess of Rockingham's racehorse approximately at life-size, rearing up against a plain background. The canvas is large, lacks any ...

'', a painting of an English racehorse of a century later, was an equally monumental animal portrait to be found.

Notes

References

* Fromentin, Eugène, ''Les Maîtres d'autrefois'', 1876, translated as "The Masters of Past Time", Phaidon, 1981, *MacLaren, Neil, ''The Dutch School, 1600–1800, Volume I'', 1991, National Gallery Catalogues, National Gallery, London, *Potter, Polxeni, "The Bull (detail), 1647, By Paulus Potter (1625-1654)". Emerg Infect Dis erial on the Internet 2001 Jan-Feb, accessed 3 May 2015

DOI: 10.3201/eid0701.AC0701 * Seymour Slive, Slive, Seymour, ''Dutch Painting, 1600–1800'', Yale UP, 1995, *Walsh, Amy L., "Potter (i)."

Grove Art Online ''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press, ...

, Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 3 May. 2015
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External links

* *
The Bull
' at the Mauritshuis website {{DEFAULTSORT:Young Bull, The 1647 paintings Cattle in art Dutch Golden Age paintings Paintings in the collection of the Mauritshuis Sheep in art Birds in art

Notes

References

Further reading

External links