A peasant woman in clogs tries with all her might to control a cow. Mondriaan made this watercolour in 1898 after a painting by the French artist Julien Dupré. On the original oil painting the cow in question is shown looking at a herd of cows in the distance.
The painting by Dupré was exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1882. Mondriaan most likely knew the artwork, titled Au Pâturage, from a black and white reproduction.
Dupré is considered a member of the Barbizon School: a group of painters that painted sober landscapes in the woods of Fontainebleau. Using a loose style, they painted everyday life and chose modest subjects, such as peasants with their cattle, as their subject matter. This choice of realistic themes clearly appealed to the Dutch Hague School painters and they drew inspiration from this group of French painters.
Mondriaan was interested in the Hague School style and therefore also in the Barbizon School. The result is in front of you: a study of this peasant woman with her cow, directly after a work by Julien Dupré.