Cattle Grazing in a Meadow (after Paulus Potter)

Cornelis Apostool was an important figure in promoting both Dutch art and the abilities of Dutch engravers, in England as well as in his home country. He was an expert in soft-ground etching techniques, specifically aquatint, as the highly textured areas of this print demonstrate. Multiple applications of aquatint create the soft layering of leaves in the trees and mimic the texture of the hair on the backs of the cattle. The richness of texture befits a reproduction of a work by Paulus Potter, a Dutch artist of the seventeenth century whose paintings themselves evoke the luxuriance of the rural Dutch landscape.