Cow with twisted horn (1650)

"Cow with twisted horn" (1650) is a work by Paulus Potter. The catalogue places it in Plants & Animals. The format is landscape. Background on Plants & Animals: Images of plants and animals run from medieval herbals and bestiaries to the scientific illustration of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. Images of plants and animals are valued both for the care of their observation and for their decorative appeal. Context for 1650: In the Dutch Republic, a prosperous middle-class market supported landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and scenes of daily life painted at a modest scale for the home. The seventeenth century is the age of the Baroque, which favoured dramatic light, movement, and strong emotion in the work of painters in Italy, Spain, and Flanders.

On onlly.art "Cow with twisted horn" is sold as a digital download (Digital JPEG + PDF files, 300 DPI). The files are delivered by email after payment, so nothing is shipped: you print locally, choosing the paper, size, and frame yourself. A landscape format suits wide, low wall spaces such as the stretch above a bed, mantel, or sideboard. Before printing, compare the proportions of the file with your frame so that nothing important is cropped. Hang the print away from direct sunlight, which over the years can fade any printed colour. Choosing a standard frame size and printing to fit it often saves the cost of custom framing. Screens and printers render colour differently, so a small test print is a sensible way to check tones before committing to a large size.

Dutch, 1625–1654

If you like the visual language of Paulus Potter, explore more works by the same artist in our collection.