Cattle on the River

Three cows pause beside a stream in an idyllic setting. The artist, William Hart, was well known for his prolific paintings of landscapes and cattle that convey people’s harmonious relationship with nature. Hart was also the grandfather of the writer E. B. White, who evoked the habits of cows to describe the changing nature of language: “Living language is like a cow-path: it is the creation of the cows themselves, who, having created it, follow it or depart from it according to their whims or their needs. From daily use, the path undergoes change. A cow is under no obligation to stay.”