''Shepherd with a flute'', or ''Boy with a Pipe'', is a painting in oil on canvas of perhaps 1510–1515, in recent decades usually attributed to

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

, though in the past often to

Giorgione Giorgione (, , ; born Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco; 1477–78 or 1473–74 – 17 September 1510) was an Italian painter of the Venetian school during the High Renaissance, who died in his thirties. He is known for the elusive poetic qualit ...

. It is now in the

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...

, and in 2018 was in the King's Closet at

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...

. Since at least 1983 it has been called ''Boy with a Pipe ('The Shepherd')'' by the Royal Collection; previous titles the collection recognise include ''Shepherd with a pipe'', and ''The Shepherd''. A boy or young man now in a loose white shirt looks away from the viewer out of the picture space, apparently "lost in thought". He holds a

woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and reed ...

instrument, as though he has just been playing it. X-ray radiography reveals that the figure "originally wore a more formal style of white shirt with continuous gathers under a slate-blue doublet". This has implications for the question of whether the painting was ever intended as a portrait of an individual, or, as is generally thought more likely, is an idealized and generalized image of a type. This type of painting can be traced back to

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

but was taken up by several Venetian artists in the early 16th century. Though now not generally thought to be painted by Giorgione, the composition and subject are certainly very much in his style, and this may be a copy of a lost original by him. It is very similar in composition and mood to the ''Boy with an Arrow,'' (1506?) in the

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal do ...

, Vienna, which is "a rare example of a painting still universally attributed to Giorgione". This is partly because it was mentioned by

Marcantonio Michiel Marcantonio Michiel (1484–1552) was a Venetian noble from a family prominent in the service of the State who was interested in matters of art. His notes on the contemporary art collections of Venice, Padua, Milan and other northern Italian centr ...

in 1531, along with a lost "shepherd who holds fruit in his hand".

Attribution

Bernard Berenson Bernard Berenson (June 26, 1865 – October 6, 1959) was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. His book ''The Drawings of the Florentine Painters'' was an international success. His wife Mary is thought to have had a large h ...

was a strong supporter of the attribution to Giorgione, which still has some support. If by Giorgione, who died in 1510, it would probably date to around 1508. Crowe and Cavalcaselle had already doubted the attribution in the later 19th century. The attribution to Titian was most fully stated by

John Shearman John Kinder Gowran Shearman (pronounced "Sherman"; 24 June 1931 – 11 August 2003) was an English art historian who also taught in America. He was a specialist in Italian Renaissance painting, described by his colleague James S. Ackerman as "th ...

in his catalogue of this period in the Royal Collection, and has been agreed by many, including

S. J. Freedberg Sydney Joseph Freedberg (November 11, 1914 – May 6, 1997) was an American art historian and curator, mainly of Italian Renaissance painting. Freedberg was born in Boston and attended the Boston Latin School. He graduated from Harvard College in ...

. Despite the similarity in the subject, the painting technique is regarded as very different from Giorgione's and close to undoubted early Titians. Other possibilities include

Francesco Torbido Francesco Torbido (Venice 1486–1562) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period, active mainly in Verona and Venice. He is also known as ''il Moro''. Biography He studied in Venice under Giorgione and then went to Verona and married the ...

and

Morto da Feltre Morto da Feltre was an Italian painter of the Venetian school who worked at the close of the 15th century and beginning of the 16th. Biography His real name appears to have been Pietro Luzzo, Pietro LuciStefano Ticozzi ''Storia dei letterati e ...

, suggested by various scholars in the 20th century. The painting, in particular the composition of the head, also relates closely to another Giorgionesque bust figure in Vienna, ''David with the Head of Goliath''; both may have a common model. X-rays reveal that the Vienna "David" originally held a lute, and the attributes of

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

were added later.

Provenance

It was bought at an unknown date by

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of ...

as a work by Giorgione. Following the execution of the king, it was valued at £30 and sold in 1650 to De Critz and Co. In 1660, on the

English Restoration The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to be ...

, it was recovered by

Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest surviving child of ...

. It was hung at

Whitehall Palace The Palace of Whitehall (also spelt White Hall) at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, except notably Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, were destroyed by fire. Hen ...

then

Kensington Palace Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British royal family since the 17th century, and is currently the official L ...

, before being moved to

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

in 1833, which was already open to the public, and for long displayed most of the Italian Renaissance paintings in the Royal Collection. It remained there until the Italian Renaissance paintings were moved out in recent years.

In literature

The painting was the subject of a poem by " Michael Field", in fact Katharine Harris Bradley (1846–1914) and her niece, ward and lover Edith Emma Cooper (1862–1913). Their volume ''Sight and Song'', published in 1892, was a collection of poems on individual paintings, most from the Italian Renaissance.Text of ''A Shepherd-boy''

Notes

References

* Freedberg, Sydney J.. ''Painting in Italy, 1500–1600'', 3rd edn. 1993, Yale, *"RC"
Royal Collection page
*Lucy Whitaker, Martin Clayton, ''The Art of Italy in the Royal Collection; Renaissance and Baroque'', Royal Collection Publications, 2007, *Woodall, Joanna, ''Portraiture: Facing the Subject'', 1997, Manchester University Press, , 9780719046148
Google books

Attribution

Provenance

In literature

Notes

References

Further reading