Art Institute of Chicago

Shepherd Playing a Flute

Nicolaes BerchemLinkedCulture matchlcp-d4b1b5130f1e

Date: 1644/45
Medium: Etching in black on cream laid paper
Culture: Holland
Department: Prints and Drawings
Institution: Art Institute of Chicago
Object ID: 32713

From the Art Institute of Chicago record

During the Renaissance and early modern periods, pastoral motifs (such as shepherds herding livestock) became quite popular, as they had been in antiquity. Pastoral images portray an idyllic fantasy of outdoor living, made to appeal to an urban audience far removed from the realities of agrarian life. One popular pastoral theme was a shepherd playing a flute for a young woman, which could have erotic undertones. Here a young man serenades not only a maiden, but also a menagerie of animals including a cow, a donkey, a goat, and a sheep.

View at Art Institute of Chicago ↗

The authoritative record is held by Art Institute of Chicago. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.

Get printable QR codes

Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.

Open this page

See at Art Institute of Chicago

Provenance & credit

As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.

Credit line: John H. Wrenn Memorial Collection

Linked open data

Authority identifiers that link this record into the wider web of cultural data — stable references you can follow to the source.

Object type: AAT300041273

Part of a LinkedCulture topic

17th-century Northern European animal studies
A collection of prints and prints-based works from the Dutch, Flemish, and Northern European traditions of the 17th century depicting domestic animals and rural pastoral scenes, primarily created through etching and engr
458 objects from 5 institutions