Somewhere on the internet there needs to be a good, high-res, big, static picture of “The Falling Cow” without the inner spine of a book interfering with the image and also with enough context around it, especially so you can see what looks like a smoky trail or a shadow-ghost of the falling cow.
The falling cow was painted using the spray technique, which means the artist put pigment in his/her mouth and mixed it with saliva and blew the paint through a tube or used pre-made liquid paint and then put the liquid paint in his/her mouth and blew it through a tube. However, the muzzle and horns were painted with a brush. The current idea for explaining why “The Flying Cow” was painted this way is because the surface was too bumpy to paint with a brush.
You should also be aware that this one of the few paintings that portrays movement. Most images are of static animals.
Originally, “The Falling Cow” was called “The Leaping Cow” or “The Jumping Cow.” But on closer examination, which can’t be done with this image, you can see the legs are up against the adbomen. The right hind leg can actually be seen through the cow’s (auroch’s) body. The arrangement of the legs suggests falling instead of flying. I, however, wonder if it is being dragged to the right or if it is flying to the left. Maybe it fell out of the wall where the shadow spot is or maybe it is falling in.
Also notice part of the body is in red.
Most important is the red quadrangular sign near the auroch’s mouth. What is that? A trap? A signature? A shamanistic image from the beginning of a trance? Why are there so many?
Here’s the picture of “The Falling Cow” with the surrounding images.
Click the image to see it bigger.
Here is “The Falling Cow” without the surroundings.
“The Falling Cow” is located on the right wall of the Axial Gallery in the Lascaux Cave in France.//
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