Herd of Sheep Under Trees

Max Liebermann

National Gallery of Art

Printed with energetic black lines and hatching against cream white paper, dozens of sheep graze in the deep shadows cast by a grove of trees in this horizontal landscape etching. The horizon runs lengthwise across the center of the sheet, and the sheep graze between two neat rows of trees that recede into the distance. The ground gently rises on either side of the sheep, and the trees lean in toward the center. A dark form near the middle of the flock could be a shepherd or thick tree stump. The print is inscribed in graphite in the lower margin to the right, “MLiebermann.”