Animalia (Animals): Ram and sheep

Nicolaes Berchem (1620-83) was the son and presumably pupil of Pieter Claesz, a Haarlem painter of down-to-earth still lives. He also studied with a variety of artists, including Jan van Goyen, and became a prominent member of the Haarlem artistic community, on one occasion travelling to Germany with his famous fellow townsman, Jacob van Ruisdael. The last decade of his life was spent in Amsterdam. Berchem painted some northern forest landscapes of a type which this training and milieu might lead one to expect. The majority of his work however is Italianate, either inspired by an undocumented visit to Italy, which can only have occurred between 1651 and 1653, or by exposure to the work of returning Italian-influenced artists such as Cornelis van Poelenburgh. In the course of his career, Berchem completed some 500 paintings and 80 etchings.

This etching is a reverse copy of a print from Berchem's series known as 'Animalia (Animals)' (British Museum Collection online) and is the third of eight in the set. It depicts a ram with large horns dominating the image, and a sheep sleeping behind him. There are no helpful identifying marks on the plate or sheet, and it seems probable that an artist directly copied an impression of the print onto the copper plate, thus producing this reverse copy in the printing process. It testifies to Berchem's popularity and immense skills as an animal 'portraitist'.

Sources:

British Museum Collection online, https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1663168&partId=1&searchText= Berchem+animals&page=1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaes_Pieterszoon_Berchem

Dr Mark Stocker    Curator, Historical International Art    April 2019