BERCHEM, Nicolaes (1620-83):

Shepherd playing a Flute

Etching and engraving, 1644-45?. Hollstein 6, second state of five(?). Hollstein’s states are illogical, so they have been differently interpreted. The British Museum, which has several impressions, calls their state with two spots behind the tail of the sheep at left but before the number lower right, as corresponds with ours, the second state of five, whereas the Art Institute of Chicago calls their same state the third of five.
Watermark: Shield
Provenance: King Friedrich August II

A fine impression with the foreground contrasting well with the background, thread margins on three sides, the empty lower inscription space trimmed c.5mm. Thin spots along the left margin, slight cockling in the upper right corner, otherwise in very good condition. 196 x 147mm.
$900

Berchem absorbed the Italianate light and languid interpretation of pastoral occupations from various Dutch painters in the 1640s, but may not himself have visited Italy until the 1650s. In pointing out the resemblance between this print and The Bagpiper, one of his most beloved prints, Clifford Ackley (Printmaking in the Age of Rembrandt, 1982, no. 120) finds them to be close in etching technique to a number of his dated prints of 1644. He draws attention to the “tonal meshes of short, broken strokes” that create the “transfiguring southern light” that envelopes the scenes. Both as a painter and an etcher he was one of the most sensitive and successful interpretors of the special qualities of Italy.