The Bull
Paulus Potter
1647
Mauritshuis, The Hague, Netherlands
92.7 in x 133 in
Oil on Canvas
This picture depicts a man and his animals all huddled under a tree with each other. The focus is on the man and these animals, but you can see off in the distance that there are other animals as well. The main animals look like they are comforted in the fact that their master is by them, and that they most likely feel a sense of protection from him. There are clouds in the sky and there is darkness upon the main animals and the man. Off in the distance you can see that there is light upon the other animals. This could be to suggest that there may be hard times in the line of work this man has faced, but through these times he will always have his animals who look for comfort in him, and that there is goodness in his future with these animals.
The theme I see in this picture that we have learned about is that life on the farm may seem simple, but there is not much simple about it. There is hard work that these farmers have to go through. They work hard to cultivate their crops, must provide for their families and the population, and have to care for the living things on their farm. These animals depend on their owner to provide for them and in return, they will provide for their owners. I also see that while working on the farm, farmers can have many spiritual experiences. There is darkness in this picture, but there is peace that lies within that. In the light, there is life, literally and figuratively. For a farmer to feel the spirituality around him would mean that there is a bigger picture in the line of work he has. The lives he cares for have so much more meaning than just that they are sacks of meat. He has a connection with these animals who cannot talk back to him, but yet they still trust him and want to be around him.
This picture shows the hard work that farmers must go through, but because of it, they and the life around them form a connection that makes that hard work pay off. There is spirituality on the farm, and this pictures shows that because of how even though these animals have no words to speak, there is still a connection that forms between man and animal that shows trust.
Work Cited
Potter. Paulus. The Bull. Digital image. Artsor. Web. 10 Apr. 2016. <http://www.artstor.org/content/mauritshuis>
No comments:
Post a Comment