Artwork
The Milking Place at Meilgård
The Milking Place at Meilgård is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Theodor Philipsen. It dates from 1892 and is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work is classified within the genre of animal art, emphasizing the naturalistic observation of livestock and the human interaction with them.
The painting depicts a rural scene centered on the act of milking, featuring a woman tending to a cow within an open field. Set beneath a sky populated with clouds, the composition captures a specific moment of daily agricultural labor. The work is classified within the genre of animal art, emphasizing the naturalistic observation of livestock and the human interaction with them.
By focusing on the mundane reality of the milking process, the piece represents the quiet dignity of farm life and the intimate connection between the peasant worker and her animal charge.
Technique & Style
The Milking Place at Meilgård is an oil painting executed on canvas, a standard support for late nineteenth-century Danish landscape and animal subjects. The work measures 755 mm in height by 998 mm in width, giving it a horizontal format suited to its open pastoral setting. Painted in 1892 by Theodor Philipsen, it is classified as a painting in the animal art genre, depicting a field, a cow, milking activity, a woman, and a sky with clouds.
The horizontal orientation and the inclusion of livestock within a broad landscape are consistent with Philipsen's known approach to rural Danish scenery.
The piece is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst, where it has been included in the exhibition "1880-erne i nordisk maleri."
History & Provenance
Theodor Philipsen executed the oil painting The Milking Place at Meilgård in 1892. Created on canvas, the work depicts a rural scene featuring a woman milking a cow within a field under a cloudy sky, and measures 755 by 998 mm. It is classified as a painting within the animal art genre. The painting entered the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst, where it remains housed, and was later included in the exhibition "1880-erne i nordisk maleri," which highlighted Nordic painting of that decade.
Context
The Milking Place at Meilgård (1892) is an oil on canvas work by Theodor Philipsen that portrays a rural milking scene with a woman, cow, field, sky and clouds. It measures 755 by 998 mm and belongs to the animal art genre.
The painting entered the collection of Statens Museum for Kunst and was featured in the exhibition "1880-erne i nordisk maleri," situating it within the broader Nordic genre painting of the 1880s and reflecting Philipsen’s focus on everyday rural life.
Overview
Theodor Philipsen, a Danish artist recognized for his landscapes and animal depictions, created The Milking Place at Meilgård in 1892. This oil painting captures a moment of rural life, showing a cow being milked in an open field under a dynamic sky. The work is held in the collection of Statens Museum for Kunst and reflects an engagement with Impressionistic principles.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Theodor Esbern Philipsen (10 June 1840 – 3 March 1920) was a Danish painter of Jewish ancestry, known for landscapes and animal portraits. He also did small figures in wax and clay.
