Sheep in Dekkersduin

A shepherdess pauses among the trees, leaning on her staff while her flock spreads out across the sandy landscape. Anton Mauve painted this scene near Dekkersduin, an area of dunes on the edge of The Hague in the Netherlands. Sheep were one of his favorite subjects, and he returned to them again and again throughout his career. The signature and date in the lower right corner mark it as one of these many pastoral studies he made outdoors and in his studio.

Mauve was a leading member of the Hague School, a group of Dutch painters in the late 1800s who favored muted earth tones and everyday rural life over grand historical scenes. He worked mostly in grays, greens, and browns, capturing the hazy light of the Dutch countryside. If his name sounds familiar, it may be because he was a cousin by marriage to Vincent van Gogh and gave the younger artist some of his earliest painting lessons. Van Gogh admired him greatly, and Mauve's influence can be seen in the somber palette of Van Gogh's early Dutch works.

Notice the fleece of the nearest sheep, painted with thick dabs of cream and gray that give it a rough, woolly texture you almost want to touch. The rest of the scene fades into softer brushwork, keeping your attention on the animals in the foreground and the small figure watching over them.