Sitting shepherd 

Curator: I find this drawing incredibly intimate. It’s entitled "Sitting Shepherd", by Rudolf Gudden. The piece appears to be a study done with pencil on paper. It's currently held in the Städel Museum. Editor: Immediately, I’m drawn to the posture. He sits with a relaxed ease, almost melancholic. His gaze seems distant, perhaps reflecting on something unseen. Curator: It's intriguing that you focus on melancholy. The shepherd figure appears to be one recurrent theme in German art since the 19th century as Germany began grappling with its national identity in terms of folklore, myths, and the rural existence it perceived to be its historic bedrock. Editor: Precisely! It touches upon that older iconography, that idea of pastoral simplicity but tinged with a hint of longing for something perhaps lost or idealized, in relation to landscape. What are your impressions on the visual language itself? Curator: The quick, light pencil work suggests a study from life, or at least a sketch made with the aim of a larger project, so it is probably from the artist's sketchbook. This kind of quick drawing was quite important to explore the artist's personal relationship with his subjects. It can show an idealized rendering of peasant life or, on the contrary, it might be done as preparatory work for a Realist painting focused on workers and laborers. The use of realism helps depict social realities, which can reflect the German anxieties and social concerns of that time, if this were part of the latter purpose. Editor: It seems the artist truly wants to imbue the commoner in noble terms, not necessarily with perfection, but humanised and in their own milieu. This work connects on that deep, emotional level, bridging the gap between the viewer and subject. I am left with an introspective moment, to admire art which feels genuinely observational of human behavior. Curator: Yes, an observant capture, I think, of both a person and an enduring symbol. Thank you. Editor: Thank you as well! It’s insightful to consider both the subject and symbolism together in such simple but charged forms.