Sheep at the Entrance to a Forest

Jacque is ranked among the leading painters of the later 19th-century Realist school, and his artistic roots were in the village of Barbizon, where he worked with Millet and Diaz. He devoted his career to the straightforward depictions of rural genre scenes and of animals of the farm and field, especially sheep. In later years he was noted for his scientific experiments in animal husbandry. In the United States, he was as well known for his etchings (he was a trained graphic artist) as for his bucolic paintings of shepherds and sheep. This particular work was included in the 1883 Pedestal Fund Art Loan Exhibition, which was arranged to raise money for the Statue of Liberty.