# Sleeping Nymph and Shepherd

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bronchorst-jan-gerritsz-van-rb050ac138ce118/sleeping-nymph-and-shepherd-r2f07f5e9552c7f>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [BRONCHORST, Jan Gerritsz van](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bronchorst-jan-gerritsz-van-rb050ac138ce118>)
- Date: 1601-1650
- Technique: Oil on canvas, 85 x 116 cm

## Commentary

This painting is an almost pornographic portrayal of a young man spying on a naked woman with his thumb extended between his index and middle fingers in a gesture that signifies copulation. The nude is portrayed on a beautifully draped cloth against a shadowy background of rocks and trees. It was apparently not the artist&#39;s intention to illustrate a theme along the lines of Venus and Adonis or Jupiter and Antiope, for instance, but simply to paint a picture with no specific subject in mind.

## Related artworks

- [A Concert](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bronchorst-jan-gerritsz-van-rb050ac138ce118/a-concert-rafc9b53f58985a>)
- [Merry Company with a Violinist](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bronchorst-jan-gerritsz-van-rb050ac138ce118/merry-company-with-a-violinist-rb0a96c4813563e>)
- [The Three Graces](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/bronchorst-jan-gerritsz-van-rb050ac138ce118/the-three-graces-rd51399aeab4ad6>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)