Finding the Sheep (Le mouton retrouve) 

Alphonse Legros created this etching, Finding the Sheep, in France, sometime in the late nineteenth century. This image evokes a sense of rural simplicity, but it also reflects the social realities of its time. Legros was part of a movement of artists who turned to rural subjects as a way of critiquing the rapid industrialization and urbanization of France. The figure of the shepherd can be read as an emblem of traditional values. Legros was associated with the Realist movement, so we can see his work as an attempt to depict rural life without idealization, yet the scene is imbued with nostalgia. To understand Legros' work more fully, we might look at the print market in France at this time. We might ask, who was buying these images of rural life, and what did they represent to them? By consulting historical archives and critical writings, we can better understand the complex relationship between art, society, and the institutions that shape our understanding of the world.