A Shepherd and a Young Woman With Their Feet in a Brook1764
A shepherd and a young woman sit together by a brook with their feet in the water, beneath tall trees, while animals graze in the distance. More about this work
About this work
A shepherd and a young woman sit together by a brook with their feet in the water, beneath tall trees, while animals graze in the distance. Salomon Gessner of Zurich was famous across Europe for his Idylls, prose poems of innocent pastoral love, and he illustrated such scenes himself in delicate etchings like this one, made in 1764. Printed here on paper tinted pale blue, the scene evokes the gentle Arcadian world that made him one of the most widely read authors of the eighteenth century.
Written by Ochre Editions.
What you’re looking at
The image depicts a forest scene with large trees dominating the right side, two figures seated by a stream, rocky formations on the left, grazing animals in the distance, and a monochrome color palette of brown and espresso tones.
Description from the National Gallery of Art.
How it was made
- Etching
- The artist draws with a needle through a waxy coating on a copper plate, and acid bites the exposed lines. The plate is then inked, wiped and printed under pressure, so the line keeps the freedom of drawing.
- Laid paper
- Handmade on a mould of close-set wires, which leave fine parallel lines you can see when the sheet is held to the light.
Salomon Gessner
Swiss, 1730–1788
Gessner was a Zurich poet, painter and etcher whose prose Idylls, gentle pastoral scenes of shepherds and nymphs, were translated across Europe and made him one of the most widely read writers of his day. Largely self-taught as an artist, he illustrated his own books with delicate etchings and later painted landscapes in gouache. He also ran a publishing firm and served on Zurich’s city council.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The National Gallery of Art has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1996.12.4
- Credit
- Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
- Type
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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