herd of Cattle Beside the Sea 1878

Eugène Burnand painted this herd of cattle beside the sea using oil on canvas. Burnand was a Swiss artist who studied in Paris, so we can situate this work within the late 19th century French art world. During this period, academic painting was under pressure from new artistic styles such as Impressionism, and was also starting to represent rural and working-class subjects. The man on horseback indicates cattle herding for agriculture, with a naturalistic depiction of livestock that reflects the rising Realist movement. A stark contrast to idealized images of rural life, there is a melancholic quality to this painting, perhaps indicative of the difficult lives of rural laborers during this time. To fully understand the social context, one could investigate agricultural practices in France and Switzerland, or look into the artistic institutions that supported and exhibited this type of work.