Paulus Potter is an outstanding personality. An incredibly talented artist who, despite his very short life, left a huge creative legacy. His works are considered an important acquisition not only for Dutch, but also for world painting.
Biographical Information
Paulus Potter was born in the artist's family in 1625. It is obvious that his father became the first teacher of painting for him. After the young man began to make progress, he was accepted as a student by Jacob de Vel - a Dutch painter. Some sources say that Peter Lastaman and Klas Moyert were also his teachers.
At the age of 21, the young artist becomes a member of the Delft Guild of St. Luke - the workshop of sculptors, artists and printers. For some time, Paulus Potter leaves for The Hague, where he also becomes a member of another guild of artists.
In 1649, having married, he returned to Amsterdam, where his last years of life passed.
The style of paintings
In all his works, Paulus Potter used animal themes. Such a choice was rather strange for that time, but the author was able to convince the public of the opposite. Potter's paintings are incredibly realistic and well-designed.
With great accuracy, the artist depicts not only the animals themselves, but also the surrounding environment. One of the researchers of his works, having visited the artist’s homeland, was able to recognize many real landscapes in his paintings. The master wrote a real life that does not need embellishment.
Semantic content
All the characters in the paintings of Paulus Potter endowed with psychology. Animals vividly illustrate the characters of people, and in people habits of animals become noticeable. So, for example, in the picture "Figures with Horses at the Stable" in the look of each character there is a certain mood - curiosity, boredom.
Another striking example of such a subtle psychologization is Paulus Potter's "The Chain Dog". The work shows us an ordinary dog near the booth, it would seem that nothing special should be in this topic. However, the work is filled with a mass of valuable details that make it significant in the history of world art. So, only according to the dog’s hair - sometimes rough, sometimes soft, it can be understood that the picture shows spring, since it is during this period that the dog begins to molt. It is amazing how accurate and plausible the picture is written. The perspective from which the hero of the work is depicted also draws attention to itself - the dog in its size almost resembles a large horse. Many critics attribute this to an attempt to raise the profile of the dog in the picture.
But the most important thing here is a look full of hopelessness and frustration. With a longing, the chain dog looks at the distant and unattainable freedom. How many people could recognize themselves in the image of the animal depicted here.
The most extraordinary work
One of the most famous and most unusual paintings by Paulus Potter is “The Punishment of the Hunter”. The canvas consists of fourteen fragments, each of which is part of the plot.
The main theme is retaliation. Nature punishes the hunter who killed her so mercilessly for many years. Twelve side fragments describe the life of the hunter, i.e., the cause, and the two central ones - the effect.
On the right we can see the cheetah, which was lured into a cage, a wolf killed by a horn, a buffalo hunted by dogs. On the left are monkeys caught with glue, an elephant that dogs are trying to tear to pieces, a mountain goat that is about to be shot.
In the upper right corner is a picture depicting the goddess Diana and her nymphs. It was she who turned the insatiable hunter into an animal that was torn to pieces by her own dogs. In the opposite corner - sv. Hubert is a hunter who voluntarily abandoned cruel hunting when he saw a deer with a cross in its horns.
And in the center of the picture, nature takes revenge on its tormentor - the dog is hung on a tree, and a fire has already been prepared for the hunter.
Such a deep psychologism in the works of Paulus Potter attracted the attention of many of his contemporaries and opened a new wave of interest in animalism.
Some of the master’s works are now in the State Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg.