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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Senay Boztas in The Hague

‘Bigger and lower’: bull in Dutch painting once had much larger testicles

The Hague
17th-century painting of a large brown and white bull with pointed horns standing next to a tree, another cow which is lying down and is golden-brown with a white face, a ram, female sheep and lamb, and a grey-bearded farmer in a broad-brimmed hat who is leaning against the tree.
The Bull before restoration: the painting was found to have hidden depths. Photograph: René Gerritsen/Mauritshuis

The Bull by Paulus Potter is one of the star paintings at the Mauritshuis in The Hague, a bucolic image of animals and a farmer.

But new research suggests the painting has unexpected hidden depths: conservators restoring the artwork say the bull’s testicles were originally much larger, and appeared to have been halved in size by the artist to respect 17th-century sensibilities.

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