An Italianate landscape with women collecting water, a shepherd and his flock beyond; and An Italiante landscape with herdsmen watering at a stream, with a town beyond

Bertin trained initially under the history painter Gabriel-François Doyen, but by 1788 he had become a pupil of Pierre-Henri Valenciennes, who encouraged him to paint idealised Italianate landscapes in the tradition of Poussin. He travelled to Italy in 1806, where he stayed for two years developing his style, which became more graceful and delicate. It was at this time that Bertin began to take a greater interest in topographical detail and the effects of atmosphere and light. As early as 1801 he had proposed to the Académie that they should create a Prix de Rome for historical landscape painting, a cause he championed for many years until his wish was finally granted in 1817. It was fitting that the inaugural competition was won by one of Bertin's own pupils, Achille Michallon (1796-1822).

Bertin exhibited regularly at the Salons, from 1793 until his death in 1842, and he won numerous awards, including in 1822, the Légion d'Honneur. The present two works of 1826 and 1828 were painted at the height of his success and are excellent examples of the way he combined a classicising tendency with a finely detailed observation of nature. He holds a pivotal place in the development of the landscape tradition in France, indeed his influence can be traced in the work of the next generation of landscapists, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875), Jules Coignet (1798-1860), and Camille-Joseph-Etienne Roqueplan (1800-1855), all of whom were his pupils.