The study presents Fontanesi's late 70s and early 80s of the nineteenth century typical style.
The drinking trough is a subject on which Fontanesi dwelt from the 1960s (the very famous The drinking trough kept in the National Art Gallery of Bologna dated 1867), often taking it up again later.
The calm and tranquility in which the cow has dropped welcomes the spectator himself by projecting it in that poetry typical of the painter, who infuses his canvases with lyricism mixed with fidelity to truth: this latter characteristic is documented precisely by the study in the open air, of which this painting is a perfect emblem.
On the verso is present the declaration of Marco Calderini, great admirer of the Maestro and curator of the Venetian retrospective of Fontanesiana (posthumous), who sanctioned its definitive consecration in 1901.
Signed lower left: A. Fontanesi, on the reverse, a ink, "Study of A. Fontanesi / by declaration M. Calderini ". Framed.