Landscape with Resting Cavaliers and a Shepherd with his Flock

1728–93

Not on view

A shallow pond in a wide open landscape serves as the drinking place for a herdsman’s flock of sheep. Along the left bank, two soldiers and their horses are equally using the pond as a place to repose. More figures can be distinguished on the slope to the left, and in the right background, a little village is situated.

This drawing, executed in brush and gray ink, was made by the eighteenth century Dutch draftsman Nicolaes Aartman. Aartman produced numerous designs for book illustrations as well as small-scale independent drawings. This little genre scene may have been intended as an artwork in its own right. Aartman likely drew the scene from his imagination, using well-established motifs, such as the herd and the woman seated on a mule, to construct an elegant and picturesque Arcadian landscape – a theme that was highly fashionable at the time.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Title: Landscape with Resting Cavaliers and a Shepherd with his Flock
Artist: Nicolaas Aartman (Dutch, Amsterdam 1713–1793 Amsterdam)
Date: 1728–93
Medium: Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash over a sketch in black chalk
Dimensions: 3 13/16 x 5 1/2 in. (9.7 x 14 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Harry G. Sperling Fund, 1975
Object Number: 1975.121.3
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By Nicolaas Aartman

In the same medium

From the same time and place

Seascape with Seven Figures and a Dog, Nicolaas Aartman Dutch, Brush and gray and black ink, with watercolor, over traces of black chalk — Seascape with Seven Figures and a Dog
Nicolaas Aartman
1728–93

Soprano Recorder in B, Thomas Coenraet Boekhout Dutch, Ebony, ivory, Dutch — Soprano Recorder in B
Thomas Coenraet Boekhout
ca. 1700

Design for a Painted Ceiling: Perspective Architectural with a Figure at the Center, Anonymous, Italian, Piedmontese, 18th century Italian, Pen and brown ink and red chalk (recto); pricked for transfer in right part of sheet and at all corners; pen and brown ink sketches (verso) — Design for a Painted Ceiling: Perspective Architectural with a Figure at the Center
Anonymous, Italian, Piedmontese, 18th century
1700–1780

Sculptor Receiving Visitors in his Studio, Nicolaas Aartman Dutch, Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash; framing lines in pen and black ink — Sculptor Receiving Visitors in his Studio
Nicolaas Aartman
1728–93

Shaffron (Horse's Head Defense), Steel, gold, leather, Dutch — Shaffron (Horse's Head Defense)
Dutch
ca. 1620

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