Shepherd with Flock of Sheep at Edge of Wood
Medium
Etching on paper
Dimensions
Plate/chine: 11.8 × 9 cm (4 11/16 × 3 9/16 in.); Sheet: 45.3 × 34.5 cm (17 7/8 × 13 5/8 in.)
Classification
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
10341
Art Historical Context
In the serene etching *Shepherd with Flock Sheep at Edge of Wood French artist Charles Émile Jacque a timeless pastoral moment. Jacque (1813–1894), a key figure in the Barbizon School, celebrated rural life in 19th-century France, inspiration from the Fontainebleau forest near Paris. Here, a shepherd guides his flock along the woodland's edge, evoking the quiet harmony of nature and daily labor—a theme central to Barbizon artists who rejected urban Romanticism for realistic outdoor scenes. Jacque's mastery shines in the etching medium, where a metal plate is incised with acid to create intric...