Shepherdess Reading a Sonnet
Artist: Abraham Bloemaert (Dutch, 1564-1651)
Date: 1628
Dimensions:
H: 41 in. (104.2 cm); W: 29 1/2 in. (74.9 cm)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number: 1955.34
Label Text:Bathed in light, a contemplative shepherdess reads a poem:
Sylvia, shepherdess, where do you go?
Where do you go in the woods alone?
Go more slowly and do not flee…
I beg you nymph turn back
Why do you run so fast…
Pastoral subjects with themes of innocent love were common in Renaissance and 17th-century literature, art, and music. Poets and artists in the Netherlands during the 1600s were attracted to this dream of an ideal environment of leisure, romance, and simplicity. Such representations of shepherds were a particular favorite of painters from Utrecht like Abraham Bloemaert, who devoted his attention in the 1620s to pastoral subjects depicted with strong contrasts of light and shadow.
Sylvia, shepherdess, where do you go?
Where do you go in the woods alone?
Go more slowly and do not flee…
I beg you nymph turn back
Why do you run so fast…
Pastoral subjects with themes of innocent love were common in Renaissance and 17th-century literature, art, and music. Poets and artists in the Netherlands during the 1600s were attracted to this dream of an ideal environment of leisure, romance, and simplicity. Such representations of shepherds were a particular favorite of painters from Utrecht like Abraham Bloemaert, who devoted his attention in the 1620s to pastoral subjects depicted with strong contrasts of light and shadow.
On view
In Collection(s)