Musées de Langres – Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot – Musée d'Art et d'Histoire

Presented at the Paris Salon of 1827, this work illustrates “The Shepherd and the Sea”, a fable by Jean de la Fontaine (1621–1695) on the pitfalls of the quest for worldly riches.

The painting hesitates between classicism and romanticism. The classical literary allusions, moral message, and composition – whose static clarity is typical of Turpin de Crissé’s work – all point to the classical world and pictorial classicism. Yet, this is also a romantic work: the shepherd cuts a small figure against a vast wilderness, his bare flesh exposed to animals and rocks. This imagery conveys a sense of newfound virtue, innocence or chosen humility – i.e. notions that conjure a romantic vision, even as they speak to the moral of the fable. The shepherd seems to have renounced worldly riches and found peace in his sunny, peaceful retreat, a calm sea in the distance. His candid, almost virginal nakedness and the untouched natural environment are also classical references.

The work does not only owe its remarkably poetic quality to its imagery, but also to its execution: the treatment of the bushes and rocks is fine and precise, and the palette delicate, especially the shades of pale blue in the background. The quality of the light, the effects of translucency and the play of light and shadow on the rocks, are central to Turpin de Crissé’s work. This picture of a man at peace again evokes a muted version of romanticism, typical of a painter whose classical training and education taught him to avoid the excesses of passion and drama.

The work was so well received by the public that the lithographer and print dealer Augustin-François Lemaître (1797–1870) made an engraving, which was exhibited at the Salon of 1837.