Two cows grazing

Two Cows Grazing, painted around 1900, parallels the Two Bulls Grazing canvas in subject and approach, applying the same interest in the grazing posture and the social context of paired animals to the female rather than the male of the species. The cow's grazing posture presented a slightly different anatomical problem from the bull's: the generally narrower neck, lighter body mass, and different proportional relationships all changed the visual character of the lowered head and extended neck. Bonheur's sustained observation of dairy cattle across her entire career gave her as comprehensive a knowledge of cows as of any other animal, and these late paired studies benefit from five decades of accumulated observation that made the solution to each anatomical problem immediate. Two cows grazing together also suggested the social structure of the dairy herd — animals habituated to each other's company, grazing in proximity out of preference — and this social dimension added meaning to what was formally a study of posture and movement.

Two cows in grazing posture are organised spatially to maintain visual interest while conveying the parallel, social character of their shared activity. The lowered-head position is handled with the anatomical accuracy of an artist who had studied cattle in this position across decades.