Claude, 'Landscape with a Goatherd and Goats', about 1636-7

This small painting beautifully evokes the lushness of the natural world. In classical art and literature, the shepherd or goatherd was a symbol of a lost age of innocence or a celebration of solitude away from worldly cares. Here, he rests against the base of a tree and turns his head towards us. He holds one hand to his mouth as if playing a flute that is just out of view. This image is derived from depictions of the classical hero Orpheus charming the animals with his music. X-ray images reveal that the shepherd may have been wearing knee breeches originally, but Claude evidently changed his mind and clothed him in classical robes in the finished painting. A group of goats lie huddled together in front of him while others graze.

Filippo Baldinucci (1624–1697), an Italian historian who knew Claude, believed the artist painted this work for himself and that ‘he used it every day to see the variety of trees and foliage’. The English landscape painter John Constable, who loved Claude’s paintings, wrote that this scene ‘diffuses a life and breezy freshness into the recesses of trees, which makes it enchanting’. This shady woodland scene, positioned on the edge of a flat landscape, allows a glimpse of a river beyond. The serpentine tree trunks on the left draw our eye through to the glistening stream and blue mountains in the distance.

This scene may resemble the park of the Villa Madama in Rome, home of the Medici family, successful Italian bankers who were Claude’s patrons. Painted in around 1636/7, this early painting by Claude shows the extent of his growing talent. The precise delineation of the trees is based on close observation of nature, and the layering of paint for the foliage creates a subtle contrast between light and shade.