Interiors by Design: Barns and cowsheds

Paintings of the interiors of cowsheds and barns haven’t been prominent, but provide a more continuous record than any other type of interior because of their role in genre paintings of every age after the Renaissance. Here are a few.

Gerard ter Borch (1617–1681), A Maid Milking a Cow in a Barn (c 1652-54), oil on panel, dimensions not known, The Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA. Wikimedia Commons.

Gerard ter Borch put the milkmaid and her cow at the centre of this painting, A Maid Milking a Cow in a Barn from about 1652-54. As was universal at that time, milk was collected in a wooden bucket that would have been scrubbed thoroughly before use, but fell far short of modern standards of hygiene. At the upper right is a store of hay to supplement the cows’ diet during the winter.

David Teniers the Younger (1610–1690), A Barn Interior (1650s), oil on canvas, 48 x 71 cm, Private collection. Wikimedia Commons.

David Teniers the Younger’s Barn Interior from about the same period shows a milkmaid pouring freshly collected milk into a large earthenware flask, through a muslin filter. This is taking place under the watchful eye of an older woman, probably the head of the domestic staff. Resting against a barrel is a well-worn besom that has seen good work keeping the floor clean.

Franz Niklaus König (1765–1832), Farmers, around the House;, or Farmer Family in the Barn (1798), watercolour, dimensions not known, Swiss National Library, Geneva, Switzerland. Courtesy of the Swiss National Library, via Wikimedia Commons.

In Franz Niklaus König’s Farmers, around the House;, or Farmer Family in the Barn from 1798, one of the early hand-cranked threshing machines is shown on the right, as the farmer is winnowing clouds of chaff from the grain it produced. Most barns were built with large openings at each end, to allow natural breezes to blow the chaff away and leave the denser grain in the large, shallow wickerwork trays used for winnowing. The farmer’s wife, two children and dog are keeping him company as he works.

Samuel Palmer (1805-1881), The Shearers (c 1833-5), oil and tempera on wood, 51.4 x 71.7 cm, Private collection. WikiArt.

The Shearers (c 1833-35) is the most ambitious of Samuel Palmer’s paintings from the 1830s. This shows the seasonal work of a shearing gang, in a sophisticated composition that draws the gaze to the brilliant and more distant view beyond. The curious collection of tools to the right was the subject of preparatory sketches, and seems to have been carefully composed. However, they have defied any symbolic interpretation, and may just ‘look right’ for a barn at the time.

Albin Egger-Lienz (1868–1926), Farm in Grafendorf (1890), oil on canvas, 68 x 88 cm, Schloss Bruck, Lienz, Austria. Wikimedia Commons.

Albin Egger-Lienz’s Farm in Grafendorf, from 1890, shows deeply rustic conditions on a dilapidated farm in Styria, Austria, as a young woman sits churning butter on a stone platform in a tumbledown barn. This isn’t the right environment for the preparation of food for human consumption.

Nikolai Astrup (1880–1928), Fjøsfrieri (Early Courting) (1904), oil, dimensions not known, Private collection. Wikimedia Commons.

Nikolai Astrup’s humorous painting of Early Courting from 1904 shows a young couple at the far left engaged in ‘clothed courting’ in the unromantic surroundings of a cowshed in a Norwegian valley. This couple have sought the privacy of the cowshed, out of everyone’s way, but the boyfriend appears unaware that they’re being watched by someone up in the roof. From the apparent direction of gaze of the girlfriend and the blush on her cheeks, she has just noticed the peeping tom or watchful relative. The setting is enhanced by the sunlight pouring through the far window, illuminating two rows of the back-ends of cows. The wood floor between the cows appears to be decorated with small sketches, but those are actually piles of cow dung. And that’s where I’d like to leave it.