The Shepherdess
c. 1869
Medium
pastel on brown wove paper
Dimensions
overall: 52.6 x 94.9 cm (20 11/16 x 37 3/8 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James T. Dyke
Accession Number
1996.45.1
Art Historical Context
**The Shepherdess** (c. 1869) by Charles Émile Jacque the serene essence of rural French life, a hallmark of the artist's career. Jacque, a prominent member of the Barbizon School Jean-François Millet and Théodore Rousseau, celebrated the everyday labors of peasants and shepherds in the Fontainebleau forest region. This large-scale drawing likely portrays a young shepherdess amid pastoral landscapes, reflecting the 19th-century Romantic idealization of nature and honest toil amid France's industrializing society. Rendered in pastel on brown wove paper, the work showcases Jacque's mastery of t...