The Bull (1650): Artwork and History

The Bull (1650) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Paulus Potter Dutch, 1625-1654.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

Paulus Potter was the preeminent animal artist of the Dutch Republic. His paintings and prints of monumentalized bulls for sophisticated court patrons in particular epitomize the beasts of the Dutch farmland. His slightly caricatured style betrayed a wry and occasionally earthy wit, which he sometimes used for political allegory. By his early death at age 29 he had created his own market niche of animal portraiture, leading the way for 18th-century artists such as George Stubbs, who would paint literal portraits of prized livestock for their proud owners.

Object facts

• Title: The Bull
• Date: 1650
• Artist attribution: Paulus Potter Dutch, 1625-1654
• Place of origin: Holland
• Medium: Etching on cream laid paper
• Dimensions: Plate: 10.8 × 14.7 cm (4 5/16 × 5 13/16 in.); Sheet: 11.5 × 15.2 cm (4 9/16 × 6 in.)
• Type: Print
• Department: Prints and Drawings
• Reference number: 1887.456

Collection credit

Elizabeth Hammond Stickney Collection

View the original

Explore the artwork in the Art Institute's collection, including its image and the museum's current catalogue details.

The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.