Berchem (1620-83) was the son and presumably pupil of Pieter Claesz, a Haarlem painter of down-to-earth still lives. He also studied with a variety of artists, including Jan van Goyen, and became a prominent member of the Haarlem artistic community, on one occasion travelling to Germany with fellow townsman, Jacob van Ruisdael. The last decade of his life was spent in Amsterdam. Berchem painted some northern forest landscapes (like the one of the later 1640s in Dulwich Picture Gallery) of a type which this training and milieu might lead one to expect. The majority of his work however is Italianate, either inspired by an undocumented visit to Italy, which can only have occurred between 1651 and 1653, or by exposure to the work of returning Italianates such as Cornelis van Poelenburgh, Pieter van Laer, Jan Both and Jan Asselyn, all of whom were back home by the mid 1640s. This early painting (dating from the mid 1640s) certainly suggests a stay-at-home view of the south, with amorous shepherd and shepherdess, he wearing trademark Italian skins, tending a remarkably diverse flock, including cattle, goats, sheep and a donkey. The terrain is Italianate in its mountainous distance but Dutch in its foreground detail. The effects of light seen here - a clear sky revealing the patterns of approaching sunset and seen through a screen of trees in shadow – are similarly ambiguous. They suggest the mood of Italianate landscapes but are entirely consistent with the experience of landscape in the north. Signed lower left: 'cBerghem'