17C Soft, Docile & often Seductive Women Tending Sheep

1630 Claude Deruet (French artist, 1588–1660) Duchesse de Monatusier as a Shepherdess

During the 17C & 18C artists painted their contemporaries as personifications & allegories, & often painters would put the faces of their patrons on the bodies of the saints.  These  pastoral allegories came to be called donor portraits. These paintings remained popular, as they expanded to show the wealthy sitter as a Greek goddess, or muse, or nymph in in a rustic setting. They grew to include portraits of a shepherdess in pastoral scenes wearing idealized attire, nothing like the clothing worn by real women tending sheep.

Many of the 17C portraits of women portrayed as shepherdesses were more seductive than those painted later.  The subject might be depicted with bare breasts showing, while wealthy, identified sitters would be painted in more traditional, conservative costumes.  The theme of the shepherdess was popular in 17C Dutch art, & it was not unusual for fashionable young women to have their likenesses rendered as such. A more conservative shepherdess theme remained popular & expanded throughout the 18C on both sides of the Atlantic.

1628 Unknown artist from the workshop of Gerrit van Honthorst (Dutch artist, 1592–1656) Portrait of a Lady of the Court as a Shepherdess

1624 Paulus Moreelse (Dutch artist, 1571-1638) A Woman as Shepherdess

 1625 Salomon de Bray (Dutch artist, 1597-1664)  A Shepherdess

 1630s Paulus Moreelse (Dutch artist, 1571-1638) Lady as Shepherdess

 1675 Mary Beale (English portrait painter, 1632-1697) Jane Fox, Lady Leigh as a Shepherdess

1670s Elisabeth Sophie Cheron (French artist, 1648-1711) Self Portrait

 1665 John Greenhill (English painter, c 1644-1676)  Portrait of a Lady as a Shepherdess

 1663 Mary Beale (English portrait painter, 1632-1697) Self Portrait of the Artist as a Shepherdess with her Son Charles (1660-1714)

1630 Paulus Moreelse (Dutch artist, 1571-1638) The beautiful shepherdess

 1660s Follower of  Peter Lely (English artist, 1618-1680) Lucy Walter (1630–1658), as a Shepherdess

 1660-80s Gaspar Smitz (Dutch artist, 1635-1707)  Portrait of an Unknown Lady as a Shepherdess

Style of Peter Lely (English artist, 1618-1680) Louise de Keroualle (1649–1734), Duchess of Portsmouth

Style of Peter Lely (English artist, 1618-1680) Barbara Villiers (1640–1709), Countess of Castlemaine and Duchess of Cleveland as Shepherdess with a Lamb

 After Peter Lely (English artist, 1618-1680) Eleanor 'Nell' Gwyn (Gwynne) (1651–1687) As Shepherdess with Lamb

 After Peter Lely (English artist, 1618-1680) Eleanor 'Nell' Gwyn (1651–1687) As Shepherdess with Lamb

 1675 Style of Peter Lely (English artist, 1618-1680) Unknown woman, formerly identified as Eleanor ('Nell') Gwyn

 1665 Peter Lely (English artist, 1618-1680) Unknown woman, formerly known as Elizabeth Hamilton, Countess de Gramont

 1660 Peter Lely (English artist, 1618-1680) Anne Crane Lady Belasyse as a Shepherdess

1681 attributed to Caspar Netscher (Dutch artist, 1639-1684) Lady with a Lamb

1650 David Teniers the Younger (Flemish artist, 1610–1690) Shepherdess

 1650 Gerrit van Honthorst (Dutch artist, 1592–1656)  Two Ladies as Shepherdesses

1630s Paulus Moreelse (Dutch artist, 1571-1638) Lady as Shepherdess

 1670-99 Unknown British artist, Barbara Villiers (1640–1709), Countess of Castlemaine and Duchess of Cleveland, as a Shepherdess

1670 Karel Škréta (Czech painter, 1610–1674) Portrait of a girl as a Shepherdess

1630s Paulus Moreelse (Dutch artist, 1571-1638) Lady as Shepherdess

1630-50s Anonymous Dutch artist, after Paulus Moreelse (Dutch artist, 1571-1638) Shepherdess

 1630 Claude Deruet (French artist, 1588–1660) Portrait of a Lady as a Shepherdess

Style of Peter Lely (English artist, 1618-1680) Portrait of a Courtesan

1600s Unknown artist from the workshop of Gerrit van Honthorst (Dutch artist, 1592–1656) Portrait of a Lady of the Court as a Shepherdess