Currently not on view
Shepherdess,
1633
Paulus Moreelse, Dutch, 1571–1638
y1954-130
With her provocative gaze and low-cut bodice, this young shepherdess directly encourages the viewer to partake in the sensual pleasures of Arcadia. While she holds a houlette, the traditional attribute of a shepherd or shepherdess, little else in her costume or demeanor suggests that she is actually concerned with the fate of her flock. Her floral headdress, while elegant, is impractical, and the lace edging of her white chemise is hardly appropriate for the rigors of country life. This painting relates to a fascination with pastoral ideals then current among nobles and the elite at the Dutch court in The Hague and in Utrecht, where Moreelse painted this work. Attesting to the popularity of the subject, it is one of twenty extant half-length shepherdesses painted by the artist.
Information
Title
Shepherdess
Dates
1633
Maker
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
73.5 × 67.5 cm (28 15/16 × 26 9/16 in.)
frame: 97.8 × 91.8 × 8.6 cm (38 1/2 × 36 1/8 × 3 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase
Object Number
y1954-130
Signatures
Monogrammed and dated, upper right: PM 1633
Culture
Type
Coll. Viscount Hood (Grosvenor A.A. Hood [1886-1933], 5th Viscount, London;
Ehrich Galleries, New York (1908/1913/1920); Coll. Alfred H. Mulliken, Chicago/New Canaan; sale Mrs. Alfred H. Mulliken, New York, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, 5/7-1-1933, no. 16; Ehrich-Newhouse Galleries, New York (1933-1938); sale New York, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 3-11-1954, no. 60 (as from a Connecticut Private Collection); acquired by The Art Museum, Princeton University.
Ehrich Galleries, New York (1908/1913/1920); Coll. Alfred H. Mulliken, Chicago/New Canaan; sale Mrs. Alfred H. Mulliken, New York, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, 5/7-1-1933, no. 16; Ehrich-Newhouse Galleries, New York (1933-1938); sale New York, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 3-11-1954, no. 60 (as from a Connecticut Private Collection); acquired by The Art Museum, Princeton University.
- The collection of the late Alfred H. Mulliken: English and French portraits ... English furniture...: [catalogue of the unrestricted public sale, American Art Association-Anderson Galleries, Inc., New York, Jan. 5th to 7th, 1934. : foreword. by Leslie A. Hyam], (New York: American Art Association, 1933)., lot. 16
-
C.H. de Jonge, Paulus Moreelse: portret- en genreschilder te Utrecht, 1571-1638, (Assen: van Gorcum & comp. n.v., uitgevers, 1938).
, no. 284 - Old Master & XVIII century paintings: XIX century paintings ... from the estates of the late Alan Rutherfurd Stuyvesant ... and other owners, public auction sale, Wednesday, November 3, (New York : Parke-Bernet Galleries, 1954)., no. 14
- "Recent acquisitions", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 14, no. 1 (1955): p. 17-19., p. 18
- The young Rembrandt and his times, a loan exhibition of Dutch painting of the first four decades of the seventeenth century, (Indianapolis, IA: John Herron Art Museum, 1958)., cat. no. 85
- Jan Bialostocki, "Kaunitz Honthorst rediscovered", Oud-Holland 73, no. 1 (1958): p. 167-168., p. 167, fig. 2
- Egbert Haverkamp-Bergemann, et. al., Wadsworth Atheneum paintings, (Hartfor, CT: The Atheneum, 1978-1991)., Vol. 1: p. 164
- Peter van den Brink, Het gedroomde land: pastorale schilderkunst in de Gouden Eeuw, (Zwolle: Waanders; Utrecht: Centraal Museum, 1993)., note 5, p. 230
- Dennis P. Weller, Leonard J. Slatkes and Roger B. Ward, Sinners & Saints: Darkness and Light: Caravaggio and his Dutch and Flemish Followers, (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998),, pp. 168-170
- Eric Domela Nieuwenhuis, "Paulus Moreelse (1571-1638)," PhD diss., 2 Vols. (University of Leiden, 2001),, Vol. 2, pp. 601-602
