Nicolaes Pietersz. Berchem (Dutch, 1621/22-1683)
Pastoral Scene with a Shepherdess Milking a Goat
INV-2142
Nicolaes Pietersz. Berchem (Dutch, 1621/22-1683)c. 1665–c. 1670
Pastoral Scene with a Shepherdess Milking a Goat
Nicolaes Pietersz. Berchem (Dutch, 1621/22-1683) →17th Centuryoil on paneleuropean painting
Date
c. 1665–c. 1670
Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
24.8 × 31.1 cm (9 1/4 × 12 1/4 in.); Framed: 40 × 46.7 × 4.5 cm (15 3/4 × 18 3/8 × 1 3/4 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Purchased with funds provided by Donald and Carol Asher; gift in part from Scott, Lynda, Jonathan, and Lindsey Canel; and purchased with funds provided by Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan in honor of Marlene Welsh Phillips
One of the most prolific Dutch landscape painters, Nicolas Pietersz. Berchem executed scenes of the Italian campagna (countryside) for cosmopolitan collectors who appreciated foreign views. Against the muddy palette used for the livestock, Berchem highlighted the shepherdess’s skirt with a vibrant blue, a color that attracts the eye of the viewer and of the young shepherd nearby. Alongside paintings of the flat but fertile Dutch landscape, collectors enjoyed fanciful depictions of Italy for their hilly terrain and playful peasants.
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