A shepherdess with a cow and a sheep in a rocky landscape

Giacomo Ceruti was a leading figure in a distinguished line of artists from Lombardy that Roberto Longhi classed as ‘i pittori della realtà’ (‘painters of reality’). This trend began in the late sixteenth century with pioneers of portraiture such as Moretto da Brescia and Moroni, and continued through to the eighteenth century, with Ceruti becoming arguably the greatest exponent of genre painting in his time. His portrayals of humble, quotidian figures, uncompromising in their realism, helped forge his reputation as an exceptional observer of the everyday. Although he did produce altarpieces, notably in Padua and Piacenza, cities where he spent several years, as well as some still lifes, it was his work as a portraitist and as a ‘painter of reality’ that ensured his standing to the present day.

This canvas belongs to a group of mature works from the 1760s that explore pastoral themes. Ceruti’s interest in this subject matter reflects the influence of Cornelis Bloemaert’s set of sixteen prints after his father Abraham Bloemaert (see M. Gregori, op. cit., p. 60, figs. 72-77); in particular this composition relates closely to the eighth in the series, which also shows a peasant girl holding a distaff (see A. McNeil Kettering, Dutch Arcadia, Pastoral Art and its Audience in the Golden Age, 1983, fig. 109). Mina Gregori suggests that Ceruti’s A mother and her child milking a cow in a landscape (sold Sotheby's, New York, 30 January 2019, lot 58, $1,300,000; ibid., pp. 404-406, no. 250) may have originally been a pendant to the present picture, while other works from the series include A spinner and farmer with a basket (Milan, Castello Sforzesco) and A shepherdess (formerly with Colnaghi, London).