Pastoral Landscape This painting portrays two shepherds in love, their grazing flocks, and a soft light bathing an Italian palace. As an early pastoral by Claude Lorrain, it combines his sketches of the Roman countryside with imagery from ancient art and poetry, which idealized the shepherd’s life as being one of serenity and peace. Claude roamed the hills and pastures surrounding the city and created carefully observed landscapes that demonstrate the harmonious relationships between humans and nature, a theme apparent in this painting: two lovers embrace, a palace emerges from a natural rock formation, and a town rests on a tree-lined ridge. Claude Lorrain Lorraine, France, 1604 - 1682, Rome, Italy painting 185.1999