A Flock of Sheep by Moonlight

Jacque felt strongly attracted to the landscape. From the middle of the eighteenth century, nature had become a source of inspiration for painters and writers in France. Especially after his move to Barbizon, the life as a farmer in this village and the contact with Millet, Rousseau and Diaz de la Peña, Jacques' love for nature and rural life grew. Images of the farmer, his work and of animals such as cows, pigs, chickens and sheep are inextricably linked to this rural life. A motif that will often recur in Jacque's works is the shepherd and his flock of sheep, as present in Herd of Sheep by Moonlight. While Brascassat and, a little later, Toyon were responsible for launching the bovine as a subject, Jacque ensured that the sheep as a painterly motif became accepted by contemporary artists. We see a flock of sheep, led by a shepherd at the front, passing through a nocturnal forest at full moon. Typical of most Barbizon artists is the synthetic treatment of the motif. In this way, the emphasis is placed on the whole and on the movement of a group. The motifs in this work, the shepherd and his flock, the dark forest and the moonlight, evoke feelings in Jacque that he wants to share with the viewer of his work. Jacques is trying to create not only a true, but also a poetic and evocative representation of the rural motif. That is why the scene and the composition remain simple, poor in detail but rich in evocation.