In the Pasture

In the 1640s cattle pieces became a popular genre, particularly among city-dwellers. This was largely brought about by Karel van Manders translation of Vergil published in 1597. The genre reached its apex, in the work of Paulus Potter. To increase the importance of the cattle the painter here shows it from a low viewpoint with the wide Dutch sky above. Cattle breeding was one of the pillars of the wealth of the Netherlands.