pastoral - Concerning shepherds, or animal husbandry in general, the country, country life, rustic serenity; a sacral-idyllic scene.

Examples:

François Boucher (French, 1703-1770), Shepherd's Idyll, 1768, oil on canvas, 94 1/2 x 93 1/2 inches (240 x 237.5 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. See Rococo.

Thomas Gainsborough (English, 1727-1788), Boy Driving Cows near a Pool, c. 1786, oil on canvas, 58.4 x 76.2 cm, Tate Gallery, London. See Romanticism.

Rosa Bonheur (French, 1822-1899), Weaning the Calves, 1879, oil on canvas, 25 5/8 x 32 inches (65.1 x 81.3 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. See Realism.

Anton Mauve (Dutch, 1838-1888), Changing Pasture, c. 1880s, oil on canvas, 24 x 39 5/8 inches (61 x 100.6 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. Anton Mauve was an early influence on Vincent van Gogh, working with him for a short time. This prolific and popular Dutch realist painter's wife was van Gogh's cousin.

Anton Mauve, Entering the Fold, c. 1885-8, drawing and watercolor on paper, 505 x 60.3 cm, Tate Gallery, London.

Mark Tansey (American, 1949-), The Innocent Eye Test, 1981, oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. Mark Tansey is known particularly for his monochromatic paintings which are often humorous mock-historical scenes that refer to art historical subjects and concern art criticism. This picture depicts a group of official looking men observing and recording a cow's reaction to a life-size painting of two cows. The men are dressed in lab coats and corporate suits, and with the exception of one man holding a mop, they are all wearing eyeglasses. The cow is looking at an actual painting: Paulus Potter (Dutch, 1625-1654), The Young Bull, 1647. See pastoral.

Also see allegory, Apollo, buckeye, calendar painting, genre, kitsch, landscape, nature, picturesque, rustic, and still life.

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