Landschap met herder en zeven schapen 1798 - 1837

Ernst Willem Jan Bagelaar made this etching, “Landscape with Shepherd and Seven Sheep,” in the Netherlands sometime between 1790 and 1837. Pictures of idyllic country life became increasingly popular in Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This was a time of great social and political change, with the rise of industrialization and urbanization. Artists began to look back to the countryside as a symbol of a simpler, more natural way of life. This picture does not show farm laborers or productive land. Instead, we see a shepherd at rest, his flock at peace. The scene offers a respite from a fast-changing world, and it fits in a tradition of pastoral art that goes back to ancient times. We can better understand the image by researching popular attitudes toward nature in the Netherlands at this time. Comparing this work to those by other Dutch artists, or studying how it was displayed, can tell us much about its cultural meanings.