Harvard Art Museums > 1992.60: A Shepherd Paintings Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"A Shepherd (Joachim Wtewael) , 1992.60,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Oct 07, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/227237. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Gallery Text A resident of Utrecht, one of the cultural capitals of the Dutch Republic, Wtewael specialized in pictures of biblical and mythological subjects. Whether executed on large canvases or small copper supports, his ambitious compositions are densely packed with incidental detail and attenuated figures in elegant, expressive poses. In these paired paintings, the shepherd and shepherdess fill most of the pictorial space. That they seem poised to emerge from their confinement enhances our intimate engagement with them. They project an arch sensuality through their coy smiles and bare shoulders, the bagpipe and crook, and the curve of a breast. Their costumes and attributes allude to the fashion in Dutch art and literature of the 1620s for amorous fantasies, with lovers imitating the randy shepherds of ancient and Renaissance pastoral poetry. The sophisticated amalgam of poetic allusion, mischievous sexuality, and pictorial illusionism is typical of Utrecht paintings of this period. Identification and Creation Object Number 1992.60 People Joachim Wtewael, Dutch (Utrecht, Netherlands 1566 - 1638 Utrecht, Netherlands) Title A Shepherd Classification Paintings Work Type painting Date 1623 Places Creation Place: Europe, Netherlands Culture Dutch Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/227237 Location Location Level 2, Room 2300, European Art, 17th–19th century, Seventeenth–Century Dutch and Flemish Art View this object's location on our interactive map Physical Descriptions Medium Oil on panel Dimensions image diameter: 49.5 cm (19 1/2 in.) framed: 65.4 x 65.1 x 7 cm (25 3/4 x 25 5/8 x 2 3/4 in.) Inscriptions and Marks inscription: signed and dated on the staff: Jo [in monogram] wte wael fe 1623 Provenance Recorded Ownership History [Sotheby’s London, Oct. 7, 1981, lot 15] sold; [to P. and D. Colnaghi and Co., London, 1981-1985], sold; [to Christie’s, New York, Jan. 15, 1985, lot 16]. [Seiden & de Cuevas, Inc., New York]. [Vermeer Associates Ldt., Ontario, Canada] sold; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1992. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Melvin R. Seiden Purchase Fund in honor of William W. Robinson Accession Year 1992 Object Number 1992.60 Division European and American Art Contact am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Publication History [Reproduction only], Colnaghi advertisement, Burlington Magazine, (1983)., repr. b/w p. xxviii Important Paintings by Old Masters, auct. cat. (New York, January 15, 1985), p. 27 as No. 16, repr. in color Anne W. Lowenthal, Joachim Wtewael and Dutch Mannerism, Davaco Publishers (Doornspijk, The Netherlands, 1986), p. 150 as No. A-86, repr. b/w as plate 120, tet p. 69 "La chronique des arts: principales acquisitions des Musées en 1992", Gazette des Beaux-Arts (1993), No. 1490, 50, p. 50, repr. as no. 233 Masters of Light: Dutch Painters in Utrecht during the Golden Age, exh. cat., Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1997), pp. 320-323, cat. 63 color repro Ideal [Dis-]placements: old masters at the Pulitzer: a collaboration between the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, Harvard Art Museum, and the Saint Louis Art Museum, exh. cat., Pulitzer Arts Foundation (Saint Louis, MO, 2009), p. 22 as cat. 14 Annemarie Stefes, Niederländische Zeichnungen 1450-1850: Kupferstichkabinett der Hamburger Kunsthalle, ed. Andreas Stolzenburg and Hubertus Gaßner, Böhlau Verlag (Cologne, 2011), vol. 2, p. 661, under cat. no. 1263 (n. 1) Gedi Sibony, Marjorie B. Cohn, and Emily Rauh Pulitzer, In the Still Epiphany, exh. cat., Pulitzer Arts Foundation (St. Louis, MO, 2012), repr. p. 47 [on display at Pulitzer Foundation] James Clifton, Liesbeth M. Helmus, Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., Stijn Alsteens, and Anne W. Lowenthal, Pleasure and Piety: The Art of Joachim Wtewael, exh. cat., ed. James Clifton, Liesbeth M. Helmus, and Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C., 2015), cat. no. 36, pp. 160-1, ill. p. 162 Exhibition History Ideal [Dis-] Placements: Old Masters at the Pulitzer, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis, 10/24/2008 - 10/03/2009 32Q: 2300 Dutch & Flemish, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/09/2016 - 09/08/2017; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/17/2018 - 09/25/2019; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/01/2019 - 01/01/2050 Pleasure and Piety: The Art of Joachim Wtewael, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 06/28/2015 - 10/04/2015; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, 11/01/2015 - 01/31/2016 Subjects and Contexts Google Art Project Related Works 1992.59 Joachim Wtewael A Shepherdess Paintings Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu