The Little Cowherdess C 1870 Barbizon Fontainebleau Country Scene

A charming 19th Century painting depicting a cowherdess by a stream in the woods. In a tender gesture, her young son is tugging at her apron. Painted circa 1870-80, the oil on canvas is very much in the Barbizon tradition, and may well represent the forest of Fontainebleau. Unsigned, it bears on the verso the stamp of the Parisian colour merchant Ernest Boyer.

Old tears to the canvas have been sympathetically restored with minimal invasiveness. Measuring 55.5 x 38 cm, the overall size in a simple frame is 60 x 42 cm.