Return of the Shepherd

William Blake

National Gallery of Art

This is a small engraving positioned on a larger brown paper background. The scene depicts a person holding a long staff or rod who is leading two oxen or cows towards the left across a flat landscape. The horizon is low in the image, with a setting sun partially visible behind a low hill on the right, indicated by rays emanating into the cloudy sky. The color palette is monochrome with varying intensities of black and white, against the warm brown of the surrounding page.