Breton Cow, French Cattle Breed, Antique Chromolithograph by Borie, 1863

An original antique chromolithograph, printed in color, lettered "RACE BRETONNE, VACHE." and published in Paris about 1863 in Victor Borie's Animaux de la Ferme, Espèce Bovine. A small cow stands in profile facing left, black at the head and neck, with pale upcurved horns. The body is patched in black and white, the pink udder shows beneath, and the legs are white with black markings. She stands on a sandy ground with a gray shadow under a warm buff sky.

The sheet is headed "ANIMAUX DE LA FERME, ESPÈCE BOVINE." (Farm Animals, Cattle), with the imprint "Lib. Agricole de la Maison Rustique, rue Jacob, 26, à Paris." at upper left and "par Victor Borie." at upper right. The caption below the image translates as "Breton breed, cow", and the printer's line "Imp. Zanote, rue des Boulangers, 13, Paris." runs at lower left. The drawing is also signed in the stone with the artist's script signature at lower left. The signature is that of the French animal painter Olivier de Penne (Charles Olivier de Penne, 1831 to 1897).

The plate shows the small, hardy cattle of Brittany in the northwest of France. Borie's album is a survey in colored portraits of the cattle breeds of France, together with British and other foreign breeds, issued in Paris by the Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique of 26 rue Jacob, a publisher of books on farming and rural life. Each animal is drawn broadside against a plain ground, the convention of the livestock portrait, so that the build, coat and horns of the breed can be read and compared from plate to plate.

The plate looks well in a narrow wooden frame, and several breeds from the series can be grouped in a row for a farmhouse kitchen or a study.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.