Shepherds and Their Flock Resting Under a Tree (Primary Title)

Charles Hoguet, German, 1821 - 1870 (Artist)

Educational
1868
German
oil on canvas
Unframed: 46 11/16 × 56 3/16 × 1 1/8 in. (118.59 × 142.72 × 2.86 cm)
Framed: 56 7/8 × 66 3/4 × 3 in. (144.46 × 169.55 × 7.62 cm)
2010.106
Not on view
Nicknamed “The Raphael of Windmills,” Charles Hoguet was born in Berlin to French Huguenot parents. After studying with William Krause, a marine painter, Hoguet moved to Paris, eventually training with the landscape painter Nicolas Bertin. Best known for his dramatic and romantic seascapes and landscapes, Hoguet excelled at presenting nature as wild and ruggedly beautiful. In this idyllic mountain scene of shepherds tending to their flock, an enormous and ancient tree erupts from the center of the composition, providing shelter to the men and animals. Situated next to a country lane, the gnarled and damaged tree has suffered some sort of significant trauma but still endures, much like the crumbling stone wall that borders the road. Pastoral landscapes such as this were geared toward urban consumers and audiences; these rural scenes, in which people live unaffected by modernity, were pleasing to a public coming to grips with an increasingly industrial way of life.
Signed C. Hoguet 68 in lower left corner
Gift of Mrs. James Q. Agnew; Gift of Nancy, Lady Astor; Estate of Mrs. Ailsa Mellon Bruce; Gift of the Honorable David K.E. Bruce; Estate of Dr. Kathleen Bruce; Gift of Mildred H. Cross; Bequest of Mrs. Arthur Kelly Evans; Gift of Mrs. Robert Fletcher; Gift of Mrs. Betsey Fauntleroy Foulds and Miss Mary Sue Dew; Bequest of Mr. Arthur Graham Glasgow; Gift of Mr. And Mrs. Arthur Glasgow; Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund; Gift of B. Goldreyer; Gift of Mrs. Ida Carrington Gwathmey; Gift of Miss Miriam Hill; Gift of Mrs. H. Hoogewerff; Gift of Gertrude H. Irvine; Gift of Mrs. Gene Harrison Knoop; Gift of Leslie Kowalski; Gift of Miss Rose MacDonald; Gift of Mrs. Irvin R. Massel; Gift of Mr. Cole McCray; Gift of Ellen Mott; Estate of Elsie Murphy through Mrs. Robert Fletcher; Gift of Ralph Nesbit; Bequest of Lelia Blair Northrop; Bequest of William L. Pavon; Gift of Mrs. E. A. Rennolds; Bequest of Elizabeth A. Rouzitsky; Gift of Charles Henry Scott via Louise Scott; Gift of Mr. And Mrs. Eric N. Shrubsole; Gift of Miss Martha B.D. Spotswood; Gift and Estate of Marguerite A.C. Stewart (Mrs. J.F.M.); Gift of Mr. Robert H. Tannahill; Estate of Mr. Zachary Taylor; Gift of Mrs. Charles Thompson; Gift of Mr. Dimitry Toubs; Gift of Mr. And Mrs. John R. Weske; Gift of Mrs. M.S. Wightman; Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund, by exchange
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC

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