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| Artist | Dongen, Dionys van (Dutch painter, 1748-1819) |
| Title | Cows and Goats in the Countryside |
| Date | 1807 (dated) |
| Material | oil on canvas |
| Measurements | 38 x 49.5 cm (estimate) |
| Inscription | front 'D. V. Dongen 1807' |
| Description | Dionys van Dongen was a pupil of J. Xavery at The Hague, where he lived until 1777 when he moved to Rotterdam. He specialised as a painter of landscapes with cattle. These, like the Russell-Cotes painting, Cows and Goats in the Countryside, are distinguished by a limpid clarity in the treatment of the sky, which recalls the technique of earlier Dutch Italianate masters such as Adam Pynacker, while the large cows that animate his scenes owe as much to Paulus Potter as they do to the graceful compositions of Albert Cuyp. His depiction of rustic buildings in his pictures owes something to Philip Wouwerman. However unlike the works of his predecessors, whose compositions were animated by a certain theatrical quality, van Dongen’s paintings reveal the cool stylistic restraint of neoclassical taste. The Russell-Cotes painting exemplifies this quality well and reveals how the artist applied style to acceptably present more complex subjects. The various elements of the picture combine to make a suggestive narrative. An expansive landscape is framed on the right by a broken tree, while the main action of the scene takes place on the left. A goat stands in the foreground, behind which two cows are nuzzling, while beyond a woman, who has left her milk jug nearby, milks a third cow. In the distance a man idly leans against a closed gate surveying the scene. Behind him a house partly hidden by a hedge is visible. |
| Subject | landscape; animal (cows, goats); figure; everyday life |
| Collection | Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth |
| Current accession number | :BORGM 02160 |
| Previous accession number(s) | 2295 |
| Acquisition details | Given by Mrs G. Crawshaw, 1979. |
| Notes |
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| Rights status | Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth |
| Author | Francesco Nevola |
