Southern Landscape with Shepherds and Sheep; verso: Study of a Sheep's Head (?)

1676

Not on view

Like his father and teacher Jacob van der Does (1623-1673), Simon van der Does painted Italianate landscapes populated by shepherds and their flocks—the kind of pastoral imagery that was popular in the Dutch Republic throughout the seventeenth century, particularly within courtly circles in The Hague. This early drawing (inscribed on the verso with the artist’s initials and a precise date of execution) depicts a shepherd and shepherdess following their sheep through a hilly landscape. A lively application of wash, with increasing dilution of the ink from foreground to background, yields a strong sense of atmospheric perspective.

On the verso, in addition to the monogram and date, are a few pen strokes that, when the sheet is turned upside down, look vaguely like the eye and snout of a sheep seen in profile (akin to the oil study of heads of sheep by Van der Does formerly in the I.Q. van Regteren Altena collection, sold at Christie's Amsterdam, December 10, 2014, lot 261).

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Title: Southern Landscape with Shepherds and Sheep; verso: Study of a Sheep's Head (?)
Artist: Simon van der Does (Dutch, Amsterdam 1653–1717 Antwerp)
Date: 1676
Medium: Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash
Dimensions: Sheet: 7 1/2 × 12 1/4 in. (19 × 31.1 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Purchase, Daniel Ergmann Gift, 2014
Object Number: 2014.86
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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Cottage among Trees, Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) Dutch, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, on paper washed with brown — Cottage among Trees
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)
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Reading the News at the Weavers' Cottage, Adriaen van Ostade Dutch, Pen and brown ink, watercolor, white heightening, over traces of graphite; framing lines by the artist (?) in pen and brown ink and gold — Reading the News at the Weavers' Cottage
Adriaen van Ostade
1673

Dune Landscape with Oak Tree, Jacob van Ruisdael Dutch, Black chalk, brush and gray wash, and gouache; framing lines in pen and brown ink — Dune Landscape with Oak Tree
Jacob van Ruisdael
1650–55

Portrait of a woman as a shepherdess, Crispijn de Passe the Younger Dutch, Metalpoint on prepared parchment (tafelet), inset into a painted mount — Portrait of a woman as a shepherdess
Crispijn de Passe the Younger
1635-40

Scrapbook of Drawings and Prints, Gideon Saint British, Pen and ink, engraving and etching — Scrapbook of Drawings and Prints
Gideon Saint
ca. 1760

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