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Notes

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Rubens has created the impression of a wide-open space by depicting a point of interest in the right foreground – the shepherd watching over his sheep – then using the strong diagonal lines of the river, the road, the edges of the clouds and the raking light to trick our eye. Like the shepherd, we are drawn into gazing out across the landscape, the elevated viewpoint giving the impression that we are seeing further into the distance.

Most of Rubens’s landscapes were made in the last five years of his life, on his new estate in the countryside of Brabant outside Antwerp. As well as evoking a view, his pictures allude to ideas of rural bliss derived from classical authors. Rubens was doing more than reflecting a contemporary pastoral scene – he was demonstrating his literary learning and, by implication, elevating the countryside of his native land to the same cultural status as that of Roman Italy and Ancient Greece.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

A Landscape with a Shepherd and his Flock

Date

about 1638

Medium

Oil on oak

Measurements

H 49.4 x W 83.5 cm

Accession number

NG157

Acquisition method

Bequeathed by Lord Farnborough, 1839

Work type

Painting

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.

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Artist or maker

Peter Paul Rubens

1577–1640

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