Public domain
A Shepherdess
From the collection of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This shepherdess comes straight out of Arcadia, a fairytale realm celebrated in 17th-century Dutch poems, inhabited by beautiful shepherds and shepherdesses. These verses glorified simple country life. Artists, including Paulus Moreelse, drew inspiration from them. He painted several ‘Arcadian’ shepherds and shepherdesses, often semi-nude and adorned with flowers in their hair, like this rose-crowned shepherdess.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineA Shepherdess. 1630. Paulus Moreelse. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Public domain.
