Fotoreproductie van het schilderij 'Le retour du troupeau' door Félix de Vuillefroy-Cassini before 1884

This is a photograph by Charles Michelez of a reproduction of a painting by Félix de Vuillefroy-Cassini. Made in France, the image presents a conventional rural scene: a herd of cattle is driven by a herdsman towards a village. In nineteenth-century France, this kind of image reflected nostalgia for a pre-industrial rural idyll, appealing to a growing urban middle class. However, we should not take such imagery at face value. Art institutions were crucial in shaping these representations. The French Academy, with its emphasis on idealised landscapes and rural life, played a significant role. Images like this also had political implications. In the wake of the French Revolution, representations of an ordered, rural society shored up conservative social norms and power structures. To understand this image better, we can research French art institutions, the rural economy of nineteenth-century France, and the political context in which it was made. This way we can reveal the complex social and political forces that shaped its creation and reception.