Study of a Cow

Emile van Marcke de Lummen · c. 1875–90

Medium

Oil on canvas

Original size

49.5 × 71.1 cm (19 1/2 × 28 in.); Framed: 96.6 × 116.3 × 12.7 cm (38 × 45 3/4 × 5 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Realism

Study of a Cow is a quietly commanding work — intimate in scale but full of the unhurried observation that defines the best animal painting of the nineteenth century. Emile van Marcke de Lummen trained under Constant Troyon and Rosa Bonheur, two of the most celebrated animal painters in France, and that lineage shows. He absorbed their commitment to working from life rather than studio convention, and his cattle carry a physical solidity that comes from long hours in the field. His brushwork is assured without being showy — soft around the coat, deliberate at the bone structure — giving his subjects a presence that feels earned rather than stylised. Van Marcke exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century and built a strong reputation among collectors who prized accurate, unsentimental animal portraiture. The Art Institute of Chicago dates this oil study to somewhere between 1875 and 1890, placing it in the mature period of van Marcke's career, when his technique was at its most refined. Our hand-painted oil reproduction is executed on canvas using the same medium as the original, allowing the tonal warmth of the animal's coat and the quiet depth of van Marcke's handling to come through in a form meant to last.