Joanne Cope - Cattle Portraits

Bovine Artistry

If you live in the West Country of England, you will sometimes happen upon compelling portraits of dignified-looking cattle. They will be hanging in the best kinds of establishment. I recall seeing a couple in the Marlborough Tavern in Bath.

They really do take the eye. If they take yours, you will be interested to hear that they are painted by New Zealand-born Bath resident Joanne Cope.

She paints the portraits oil on canvas, and to a scale that is close to actual size. The backgrounds are typically subdued and the features of the subject lit in a way that recalls the use of chiaroscuro in Dutch Golden Age painting.

I am just waiting for a pig study. Pigs can be dignified too.