_Paul Potter_ (Dutch: 1625-1654).
Paul Potter, the best of the Dutch cattle painters, was the
son of an artist (see 1008), and a remarkable instance of
precocious talent, having been a clever painter and etcher
at the age of fourteen. The environs of Enkhuizen, where
he was born, did not offer scenes of surpassing beauty;
but the rich brown and gold tints of the cattle contrasted
pleasantly with the verdure of the flat fields. These Potter
set himself to study and to paint; and so accurately did he
master the anatomy of cattle that a writer on the natural
history of Holland, in 1769-79, did not hesitate to utilise,
in order to illustrate his work, paintings and sketches by
Potter, including geometrical drawings which he had made to
demonstrate the proper proportions of cattle. His skill brought
him much patronage at the Hague; and in 1650 he married the
daughter of a distinguished architect in that city, who made
some objections, it is said, to his daughter marrying a mere
"painter of animals." But the painter of animals prospered
better than many of his contemporary painters of men, and
both at the Hague and at Amsterdam his works continued to be
in great request. But a too close application to his art told
on a weak constitution, and he died of consumption at the age
of twenty-nine (Cundall's _Landscape and Pastoral Painters
of Holland_, pp. 113 _sq._). For a century after his death
his works realised very small sums, but latterly they have
been sought after at extravagant prices. Technically they are
very accomplished; but Ruskin calls attention to a certain
defect of feeling in his treatment. He "does not care even for
sheep, but only for wool; regards not cows, but cow-hides. He
attains great dexterity in drawing tufts and locks, lingers in
the little parallel ravines and furrows of fleece that open
across sheep's backs as they turn; is unsurpassed in twisting
a horn or pointing a nose; but he cannot paint eyes, nor
perceive any condition of an animal's mind except its desire of
grazing" (_Modern Painters_, vol. v. pt. ix. ch. vi. § 12). In
estimating his work, it should however be remembered that he
died very young, and died learning. The famous "Young Bull" of
the Hague, painted in 1647 when he was twenty-two, is usually
considered his masterpiece. Rather, says Fromentin, is it only
a _tour de force_, a wonderful study. The portrait of the
painter as he appeared in his last days, done by his friend Van
der Helst, is in the Hague Museum.
Signed, and dated 1651, and therefore among the painter's later works.