The Sleeping Shepherd; Early Morning

A shepherd in a wide-brimmed hat lies asleep in the foreground, half-reclined on the ground beside a flock of resting sheep. A vine-covered trellis frames the scene, opening onto a rolling hill where two oxen pull a plough under a pale morning sky. Fine hatched lines give the etching its soft, dense tone.

Look closer: Two small birds fly over the hillside near the trellis edge, and a signature 'S. Palmer' is penciled in the lower right margin.

Artist

Samuel Palmer

Date

1857

Medium

Etching on chine collé; third state of four

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

2738 × 3249 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926