Grazing cow

Jacob Cats greatly admired 17th-century cattle painters, such as Paulus Potter and Adriaen van de Velde. In this drawing he closely imitated his predecessors in this genre and observed the heavy, fleshy cow from a low vantage point. When making the black chalk study from which this finished watercolour was later derived, the artist probably sat in the grass, with a good view of the animal's solid belly and udders.