Meadow with Cows and Herdsmen

Soft sunlight bathes the entire composition in a golden southern glow.
This painting, one of the most important in the artist’s early work, was probably painted between 1641 and 1643, under the influence of Italianate painting.
The landscape sloping down to the sea is structured by energetic brushstrokes and strong chiaroscuro contrasts. Dynamic cloud-drift and the slanting, gnarled oaks give the impression of motion.
Two herdsmen are resting with their dog by an oak with sprouting branches. This indicates a particular form of rural forestry, according to which – in order to satisfy the huge demand for wood – trees are felled leaving a few branches to allow continuing growth.
Under a bright sky with high clouds, the pictorial space opens to the low line of the horizon, broken by the Utrecht Mariakerk, which Cuyp places in the constructed natural environment of his pastoral idyll.
While his drawings are topographically precise, in his paintings he idealises the landscape, following the general enthusiasm in poetry and literature for an Arcadian idyll.
The scene anticipates the golden light perfected by the artist in his late work.

OEHRING Erika: Cuyp Aelbert, Meadow with cows and herdsmen, in: DUCKE Astrid, HABERSATTER Thomas, OEHRING Erika: Masterworks. Residenzgalerie Salzburg. Salzburg 2015, p. 38