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

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).