Peter Paul Rubens, A Shepherd with his Flock in a Woody Landscape

We look down from a height on a rocky outcrop of ground surrounded by trees, their reflection caught in the tranquil stream drifting past. The crooked trunks are silvery and smooth, and the roots are knotted and tangled among the stones. The woods are dark and dense, but unthreatening – rather, they invite exploration. Dawn is breaking far beyond them, and there’s a pathway through the undergrowth towards the light.

A young shepherd leans on his crook, some of his flock cropping the short grass beside him. He looks back over his shoulder at something unseen; his movement has disturbed one of his sheep, which looks back at him. Beyond them more sheep graze, while two snuffle at the ground among the gnarled tree roots higher up. Behind the shepherd, a single curved plank is slung across the stream as a bridge. The water bubbles quietly beneath it. Although the sun shines brightest on the sheep close to him, it’s the glowing red of the boy’s jacket in the shadow that serves to brighten the whole picture, and which catches the eye first.

Rubens’s love of the natural world is shown in the meticulous, realistic detail with which he has painted the various textures – rocks and pebbles, shaggy wool, stringy blades of grass, water and myriad kinds of leaf. Many of his exquisite drawings still exist in the museums and galleries of the world, revealing to us his fascination and understanding of nature. He made them in the open air and then used them in his paintings, which were made later in his studio.

Like many of Rubens’s landscapes painted on panel, it appears that this one was made in two stages: Rubens first painted the central section, then he added smaller panels at each side, extending the image to include the surrounding trees and the distant dawn. He later used the same setting with a few changes as a basis for one of his most famous landscapes, Peasants with Cattle by a Stream in a Woody Landscape (‘The Watering Place’).