Potter's Bull: An Heirloom and a Gift

Abstract

Contrary to what we thought we knew about the provenance of Paulus Potter’s iconic The Bull (1647; Mauritshuis, The Hague), the painting served as a gift to Prince William IV of Orange in 1749, after a stay of many decades within the family of Barbara Schas and Willem Fabricius in Haarlem. The painting may have been produced, or adapted, as a giant piece of decoration for a private house in The Hague.