Erminia and the Shepherds

Gian Antonio Guardi and Francesco Guardi

National Gallery of Art

This painting shows a group of people engaged in various activities within a wide green landscape. In the background are distant white-and-blue mountains and a blue sky with soft gray clouds. Near the center is a distant white building with a pointed roof. Closer to us, on the left, a bearded man sits near a wooden structure on the far left. Near the bottom left corner, a black goat and a white sheep sit beside the man. One child stands in the wooden structure, while three other children are in the center of the painting, sitting together on the ground. To the right, a person in flowing attire stands beside a white horse, holding a plumed helmet in one hand and the horse's reins in the other. There is a tall brown tree on the right, behind the person with the horse. The people all have pale skin and wear clothes in shades of yellow, pink, blue, red, brown, and white, contrasting with the blues and greens of the sky and distant landscape.