Shepherdess

During the 1870s, Winslow Homer painted some of his most idyllic images of American country life. Homer first addressed the subject of the shepherdess at Houghton Farm in Mountainville, New York, the home of his friend and first and most important patron, Lawson Valentine. Valentine acquired the large farm in 1876 and named it after his wife's family name. Homer first painted there in 1878, when he spent the summer and fall in the bucolic homestead. Sheep husbandry was an essential part of the working farm and during his stay, Homer produced a wealth of works with these pastoral scenes of contemplation and reflection. The works that he created at Houghton Farm are perhaps the artist's most celebrated images of rustic American life.