# The Shepherd's Song

**Pierre Puvis de Chavannes** (French, 1824–1898)  
1891  
Oil on canvas  
41 1/8 x 43 1/4 in. (104.5 x 109.9 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 06.177. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437344).

## About this work

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes painted this in 1891, aged 67. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Pierre Puvis de Chavannes](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/pierre-puvis-de-chavannes)

French, 1824–1898; born in Lyons; died in Paris

Puvis de Chavannes was the leading French mural painter of the later nineteenth century, decorating public buildings such as the Panthéon and the Sorbonne in Paris, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in his native Lyon and the Boston Public Library. His calm, simplified figures, pale colours and flattened space, inspired by early Italian fresco, set him apart from academic painting and influenced Seurat, Gauguin and the Symbolists.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Paintings
- The artist was 67
- Real size: about 41 × 43 in (105 × 110 cm). The 30 × 40 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Subjects: Men, Women, Sheep, Shepherds
- Colour: blue
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1139.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1139/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108; 30 × 40 in $148
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258; 30 × 40 in $338
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148; 24 × 36 in $178
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5; 30 × 40 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-shepherd-s-song-met-437344).