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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
1992.59
People
Joachim Wtewael, Dutch (Utrecht, Netherlands 1566 - 1638 Utrecht, Netherlands)
Title
A Shepherdess
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
c. 1623
Places
Creation Place: Europe, Netherlands
Culture
Dutch
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/227265

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: 49.5 cm (19 1/2 in.)
framed: 65.1 x 65.1 x 7.3 cm (25 5/8 x 25 5/8 x 2 7/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: signed on the staff lower left: "Wael fec(t?)"

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 Ltd., 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
1992.59
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Important Paintings by Old Masters, auct. cat. (New York, January 15, 1985), p. 26 as No. 16, repr. in color
  • Anne W. Lowenthal, Joachim Wtewael and Dutch Mannerism, Davaco Publishers (Doornspijk, The Netherlands, 1986), p. 150, No. A-87, repr. b/w as plate 120, text p. 69
  • 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. 62 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. 21 as cat. 12
  • 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. 37, pp. 160-1, ill. p. 163

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

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