The Resting Herd

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The Resting Herd

Artist Nicolaes Berchem the Elder (Dutch, 1620-1683)

Dateearly 1650s

DimensionsOverall: 10 1/2 x 8 1/2 in. (268 x 214mm)
image: 10 1/4 x 8 1/4 in. (262 x 208mm)

MediumEtching

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineFrederick B. and Kate L. Shoemaker Fund

Object number

2001.41

Not on View

DescriptionOne etching by Nicolaes Berchem, printed with light plate tone and narrow margins. Printed on laid paper with a "folie" watermark. Nicolaes Berchem the Elder Dutch, 1620–1683 The Resting Herd Etching, about 1652 Frederick B. and Kate L. Shoemaker Fund, 2001.41 Goats and sheep, a cow, a horse, and a mule rest in the partial shade of a tree while a young herdsman leans against his staff in this image of a calm pastoral Italian landscape. Unlike many Northern European artists who never traveled South, Nicolaes Berchem went to Italy in the 1640s. In this print the artist has given us a glimpse of the magical southern Italian light. Berchem creates a shimmering composition by making the foreground darker with thicker and more densely placed lines and progressively lightening the composition in the middleground and the background. Fine meshes of short, broken, and crisscrossing lines create a softly tonal landscape. One etching by Nicolaes Berchem, printed with light plate tone and narrow margins. Printed on laid paper with a "folie" watermark.

Label TextGoats and sheep, a cow, a horse, and a mule rest in the partial shade of a tree while a young herdsman leans against his staff in this image of a calm pastoral Italian landscape. Unlike many Northern European artists who never traveled South, Nicolaes Berchem went to Italy in the 1640s. In this print the artist has given us a glimpse of the magical southern Italian light. Berchem creates a shimmering composition by making the foreground darker with thicker and more densely placed lines and progressively lightening the composition in the middleground and the background. Fine meshes of short, broken, and crisscrossing lines create a softly tonal landscape.Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, The Dramatic Image: Baroque Prints of the 17th Century, February 25 - July 31, 2011.Comparative ReferencesSee also Gerdien Wuestman, "Nicolaes Berchem in Print: Fluctuations in the Function and Significance of Reproductive Engraving," Simiolus 24, no. 1 (1996): 19-53.

cf. Gianvittorio Dillon, Nicolaes Berchem, Incisore e Inventore, 1620-1683, Bassano: Vicenzi, 1981.

cf. J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters, London, 1829-42, ix, pp. 593-619.