Shepherd with a Flute

A large figure of a shepherd is set against a darkened, twilit sky, gazing wearily out toward the viewer. Resting his left arm on a staff, seemingly tired from his day’s work, he loosely holds a flute; with his right hand he gestures toward a farmhouse in the background, behind which imaginary ancient ruins loom. Savoldo — born in Brescia but active for most of his career in Venice — was recognized for exactly such twilit scenes; here his deep, rich colour and expressive textures show the influence of contemporary Venetians like Titian and Lorenzo Lotto. The musical shepherd, painted about 1525, idealizes the charms of pastoral life for a sophisticated urban audience, a type that flourished in Venice as pastoral poetry and drama also rose. The painting is held in the J. Paul Getty Museum.