Art, literature & history
Shepherds in a Landscape
1779
- Dating
- Exact year
- Held at
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Medium
- pastel
- Dimensions
- Unframed: 46.3 x 60.5 cm (18 1/4 x 23 13/16 in.)
- Collection no.
- 1973.1
- Attribution
- By the artist
- Image rights
- CC0 1.0License details
Jean-Baptiste Pillement. Shepherds in a Landscape. The Cleveland Museum of Art. CC0 1.0. Compressed full-frame reproduction.
Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art
About this artwork
Shepherds in a Landscape — Jean-Baptiste Pillement. 1779.
Medium: pastel. Dimensions: Unframed: 46.3 x 60.5 cm (18 1/4 x 23 13/16 in.).
Collection record: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.
The exquisite handling of the pastel, crisp and colorful in the foreground while of the greatest subtlety in the atmospheric distance, bears out Pillement's reputation as the best 18th-century French artist of the pastel landscape. Landscapes in this period were most often picturesque creations, rather than literal transcriptions of nature. In this dramatically irregular countryside, shepherds, flocks, and rustic buildings create an air of idealized rural charm.
Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.
Location checked Sep 10, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.