Study for "The Hireling Shepherd"

1851

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Impressionism Realism Early 19th Century

Dominant colour

Study for "The Hireling Shepherd" is a 1851 by William Holman Hunt, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: William Holman Hunt
When & what style?: 1851 · Impressionism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a couple standing in a field, looking at each other. The woman is holding a sheep, and the man is standing behind her. This painting is a study for a larger work, and it shows the attention to detail that Hunt was known for. Check out The Cleveland Museum of Art to learn more about this and other paintings.

The story of this work

Overview

Together with Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt was one of the founding members in 1848 of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group of young artists who rejected the heavy darkness and idealization of academic history painting, replacing it with meticulously observed, jewel-colored naturalistic detail. This is a study for the figures in the oil painting The Hireling Shepherd , Hunt’s first commercial success. The poses of the couple in the painting are remarkably close to the early study: the shepherd approaches the shepherdess upon his knees, encircling her…

Did you know?

Contemporary viewers would have recognized the painting for which this drawing is a study as bearing a deeper meaning: the couple's risky flirtation will lead to disastrous consequences and the shepherd ignores his flock while distracted by romance.

Read the full account in the museum source.