Claude Lorrain’s “Pastoral Landscape” (1628-1630) is, no escaping the fact, a landscape. At this point, like any other lifelong art lover, I’ve seen thousands upon thousands of landscapes.

The painting may well have been executed in the same year as the small Pastoral Landscape in the Ellesmere Collection, which is comparable in subject matter, intimate format, and idyllic mood.2 In ...

You can hear all of this and more, as you gaze upon Nicolaes Berchem's etching, "The Cows at the Watering Place (The Cow Drinking) 1680," a perfect example of "the pastoral" landscape. Here, shepherds ...