A shepherd conversing with a peasant family seated by a tree, a house and landscape beyond

In a letter dated 5 September 1967, Dr. Wolfgang Stechow wrote of the present painting: 'This is a very fascinating case: the figure group is evidently copied from Jan Baptist Weenix's picture, now in the trade [subsequently sold, Christie's, London, 10 December 1993, lot 5], but the forms of the trees and the house, which differ strongly from Weenix's style, are very closely connected with some early paintings by Berchem (see the picture in our own museum (Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, Ohio) catalogue 1967, page 14, fig. 60, no. 5q.125). Since Berchem was strongly influenced by Weenix, I was even tempted to think of the possibility that Berchem might have painted your picture at an unusual early moment in his career, when he was still groping for his own style and did not hesitate to copy the figures from Weenix'.