Landscape with Shepherd

Jacques d'Arthois is one of the principal representatives of the Brussels school of painting.

D'Arthois concentrated mainly on drawing and painting landscapes. The structure of his pictures was generally similar to that in this painting: the foreground in earthy shades, middle-ground with trees and areas of light and shade, and a view into a blue distance. The scene would be dotted with small staffage figures – here a shepherd playing a pipe in the shade of a large tree while his sheep graze on the hill.