Pastoral Scene with a Shepherdess Milking a Goat

One of the most prolific Dutch landscape painters, Nicolas Pietersz. Berchem executed scenes of the Italian campagna (countryside) for cosmopolitan collectors who appreciated foreign views. Against the muddy palette used for the livestock, Berchem highlighted the shepherdess’s skirt with a vibrant blue, a color that attracts the eye of the viewer and of the young shepherd nearby. Alongside paintings of the flat but fertile Dutch landscape, collectors enjoyed fanciful depictions of Italy for their hilly terrain and playful peasants.