Head of a Buffalo, from Die Zweite Thierfolge
Medium
Etching in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 14.7 × 10.6 cm (5 13/16 × 4 3/16 in.); Sheet: 17.7 × 13.2 cm (7 × 5 1/4 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
129575
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Like the nearby Four Dogs (2013.437), this etching reflects Reinhart’s affection for hunting. In most of his depictions of animals, he included the entire body, but he truncated this image of a buffalo. It may be reference to the well-known practice of mounting animal heads and other parts as trophies after a successful hunt.
About the Artist
Johann Christian Reinhart · 1761–1847
Johann Christian Reinhart (1761–1847) was a German painter and engraver who became one of the founding figures of German Romantic classical landscape painting, spending nearly six decades in Rome and transforming his adopted city into an inexhaustible subject. Born in Hof, Bavaria, on 24 January 1761, Reinhart initially followed his father into theological study before his passion for drawing took...