Cercle De N. Berchem - Landscape With Flock, Shepherd And Shepherdess - Oil On Canvas - 17th Century

FLEMISH OR HOLLAND ECOLE, 17th CENTURY
In the circle of Nicolaes Berchem (Haarlem, 1621/1622 - Amsterdam, 1683)
Italian landscape with flock and shepherd and shepherdess
Oil on canvas
77.5 × 86.5 cm
Molded black lacquered wood frame, in the taste of the 17th century, 96 × 107 cm

A monumental tree trunk frames the composition all the way to the left, anchoring the scene in a well-established tradition of northern Italianate landscape. In the foreground, a mixed herd - long-haired white and black goats, sheep, cattle - rests in the fading light; the animals are rendered with that naturalistic precision and attention to coat that characterize the painters of the Berchemian entourage.

In the background, a standing shepherd approaches a shepherdess seated next to a second group of reclining cows: the genre scene thus slips discreetly into the pastoral landscape, according to a process familiar to the Nordic masters of the 17th century. The background opens onto a landscape of gentle hills and scattered trees, treated in the brown and golden tones typical of Italianate landscapes. The sky is the real protagonist of the work: heavy charcoal-gray clouds, torn apart by golden ochre light, lend the scene a dramatic intensity that tempers the serenity of the figures and animals at rest.

With its construction in three distinct planes, its palette of browns, golds and grays, and the quality of its animal observation, this canvas is part of the production of the immediate entourage of Nicolaes Berchem, a central figure in 17th-century Northern Italian landscape painting.

Berchem, a presumed pupil of Jan van Goyen and Pieter de Grebber, was one of the most influential masters of the pastoral genre; his workshop and its many followers widely disseminated this type of composition in European collections.

Frame : Black lacquered wood, molded profile, in the taste of the 17th century; wear consistent with the age of the ensemble.

Condition : Very good overall condition. The work has been cleaned and restored. Some occasional wear on rare animal silhouettes, without altering the legibility of the composition. Antique mount, probably executed in the 19th century.

Work on view and to be removed at the gallery (07240).
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