Lot 1073 Dα

This signed work dated 1660 is the prime version of a composition that Nicolaes Berchem reiterated a year later. The later version is housed in the Mauritshuis in The Hague (inv. no. 13) and is slightly smaller than the present work (63.5 x 76.5 cm).
The piece shows a group of shepherds resting beside a trough in the shadows of ruins overgrown with trees and shrubbery. Arcadian scenes such as this established Berchem's reputation as a leading painter of Italianate landscapes. He was the son of the renowned painter Pieter Claesz from Berghem working in Haarlem, and was initially educated by his father. His work displays the influence of artists such as Pieter van Laer, Jan Asselijn and Jan Both, who brought a new style of landscape painting to the Netherlands inspired by time spent in Italy. Berchem assimilated the warm, southern light, panoramic landscapes, and Arcadian scenes of this new style. He became highly successful as a painter of Southern landscapes, without ever setting foot in Italy himself.
His Netherlandish patrons were attracted to his depictions of the carefree rural idyll of shepherds living in harmony with nature in the shadow of the historic monumental ruins of Antiquity. The artist catered to his countrymen's sense of yearning with finely painted, well composed landscapes in a vivid colour palette.
A reoccurring motif in Berchem's landscapes, so common it could almost be his trademark, is the figure of a shepherdess sitting on or riding one of her animals, and she takes a leading role in the present work. The artist also used the ruins, which here occupy almost the entire height of the image, in his compositions since the early 1650s to form an impressive stage for his pastoral groups. Berchem appears to have been quite pleased with the composition, as he reiterated it a second time shortly after this work's completion.