A Woman with Cattle and Sheep in an Italian Landscape
- Artist: Karel Dujardin
- Date: 1650-5
- Medium: oil on copper
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is "A Woman with Cattle and Sheep in an Italian Landscape" by Karel Dujardin, a Dutch painter who traveled to Italy where he was heavily influenced by the landscape. You can see that influence here, in the way the young woman is set against a backdrop of distant mountains and a grand villa.
The young woman herself is the central figure, tending to her animals with great care. Her half-smile suggests concentration, not just on untangling the wool in her fingers but also on her surroundings. The details in this painting are incredible - look at the curly fleeces of the sheep, or the muscles and sinews of the bull.
Dujardin was part of a group known as the Italianates, who were all about capturing the beauty of Italy's landscapes and skies. But what sets Dujardin apart is his use of colour - his sky may be touched with Italian gold, but the rest is a crisp blue that feels distinctly northern European.
This painting is one of Dujardin's early works, painted on copper in the early 1650s. It's a beautiful example of Dutch Golden Age art, and a wonderful insight into the world of 17th-century Europe.
See it in person
A Woman with Cattle and Sheep in an Italian Landscape hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
