Description
The exquisite handling of the pastel, crisp and colorful in the foreground while of the greatest subtlety in the atmospheric distance, bears out Pillement's reputation as the best 18th-century French artist of the pastel landscape. Landscapes in this period were most often picturesque creations, rather than literal transcriptions of nature. In this dramatically irregular countryside, shepherds, flocks, and rustic buildings create an air of idealized rural charm.
Provenance
Albert Blum, NY (1938); (Wildenstein & Co., NY)
Accession Number
1973.1
Medium
pastel
Dimensions
Unframed: 46.3 x 60.5 cm (18 1/4 x 23 13/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Tags
Drawing Neoclassical & Romantic (1751–1850) Pastel French
Background & Context
Background Story
Jean Baptiste Pillement (1728-1808) was a French painter known for the atmospheric, pastoral landscape paintings that make him one of the most accomplished landscape painters of the 18th century. Shepherds in a Landscape from 1779 depicts shepherds in an atmospheric landscape in the pastoral, elegantly composed manner that distinguishes Pillement's best work from the more general landscape painting of his contemporaries. Pillement was known for his atmospheric, pastoral landscapes with shepherds and pastoral subjects, and his work was widely disseminated through prints that influenced the development of landscape painting across Europe.
Cultural Impact
Shepherds in a Landscape is important in the history of 18th-century landscape painting because it demonstrates the atmospheric, pastoral manner that Pillement brought to landscape subjects as one of the most accomplished landscape painters of the period. Pillement's atmospheric, pastoral landscapes—widely disseminated through prints that influenced landscape painting across Europe—represent one of the most accomplished traditions in 18th-century landscape painting, and the 1779 painting shows this tradition at its most atmospheric and pastoral.
Why It Matters
Shepherds in a Landscape is Pillement's atmospheric pastoral landscape: shepherds in an atmospheric landscape rendered in the elegantly composed manner of one of the most accomplished landscape painters of the 18th century. The 1779 painting shows the atmospheric effect and pastoral subject that make Pillement's landscapes distinctive.
