“One may not escape a realisation of the fact that Jacque had studied his sheep most seriously and knew them intimately; that he painted them with an authority no one had before, nor has since, surpassed. With a few telling strokes of his brush, he indicated form and movement, putting the animals well on their feet, in attitudes familiar to those who have studied them closely.” – Arthur Hoeber, The Barbizon Painters, being the Story of the Men of Thirty (New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1909), p. 285 “See how the light dances under these trees! These sheep are real. You have come across them on the plain, dirty and forlorn, with that calm, dazed expression that is typical of these poor beasts . . .” - Alfred Nettement, Salon of 1861 In 1844, at the age of 32, the accomplished engraver and etcher Charles Émile Jacque (1813-1894) took up painting. Within ten years, he had made his name as both a founding member of the “School of 1830,” or Barbizon School, and one of France’s leading Realists and animaliers. Jacque’s particular affinity for bucolic depictions of sheep and shepherds – subjects he repeated numerous times during the course of his long and prolific career - earned him the sobriquets the “prince of sheep painters” and the “Raphael of sheep,” and the admiration of collectors across the globe. The present work, painted in 1859, features one of the artist’s favorite variations on this theme, and demonstrates both Jacque’s unparalleled knowledge of his subject matter and his ability to seamlessly combine the grand scale, profound messaging, and self-importance of a Salon-type painting with the humbleness, introspection, and tranquility of the French countryside. The year that Le Printemps was painted was a meaningful one for Jacque, with the birth of his son Fréderic (1859-1931) and a series of professional successes and milestones. After several profitable sales and well-received exhibitions of his engravings, including the debut of his most famous sheep picture, the massive La Grande Bergerie, Jacque’s confidence in his work was high. The dimensions of his paintings began to increase accordingly, as they pronounced themselves to be “Salon-worthy,” and their perspectives began to (literally) shift and change; objectivity and scientific detachment gave way to the perfection of an artistic device that would become the signature of Jacque’s mature style - the low vantage point, or intimate and empathetic “sheep’s-eye view.” The artist’s capacity to identify with his animal subjects, as well as to accurately record their appearances and actions, may be traced to his arrival with Jean-François Millet (1814-1875) at the picturesque town of Barbizon in 1849, and his ensuing interest in nature and local farming practices. Not content to merely observe the life around him, or romanticize its ways, Jacque took it upon himself to develop real estate in the region, cultivate asparagus, breed poultry, sell eggs as part of an entrepreneurial business venture, pen scientific and technical articles regarding all aspects of agriculture, and write a definitive guide to chickens, entitled Le Poulailler, in 1858. Jacque also befriended a small flock of tame sheep, the members of which served as his most instructive and devoted models as he painted en plein air. The works that Jacque produced during and after this profoundly influential period - among the most popular of his day - have recently experienced a resurgence of interest among scholars and collectors, both for the art historical traditions they preserve and the remarkable originality of their vision. In their compositions is found the deliberate invocation of an earlier age, not merely in terms of subject and technique, but in the artist’s repeated attention to a rural agricultural economy governed by seasonal cycles, weather, and times of day. The title of the present work is a clear reminder of this tendency. (The theme of “spring,” in fact, occurs repeatedly in Jacque’s oeuvre, while other works depict the countryside in summer, winter, and fall. An album of wood engravings [Album de sujets rustiques], also published in 1859, depicts the entire course of agricultural seasons, month by month, in the fashion of the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry [1412-16] and other medieval Books of Hours.) Jacque’s historical references could be far more topical as well. The artist’s constant reiteration of images of flocks of sheep grazing in a rocky field, for example, was not a sight he would have witnessed during his years in Barbizon, but rather a nostalgic memory of open pasture grazing, a practice that had ended in the area almost completely by the mid-1800s. The motif of the nursing lamb in Le Printemps could, by 1859, be called into question as well: with the rise of industry and market demand, lambs were weaned earlier and earlier during the second half of the nineteenth century, making Jacque’s sizeable youngster the exception to contemporary farming methods, rather than the rule. Jacque’s ability to create a sense of authenticity by simply repeating a scene until familiarity rendered it true, is but one of the qualities that sets his artistic process, and his richly complex images, apart from those of his peers. More significant, however, is the figure of the shepherdess herself. Pensive, anonymous, and connected to the earth by virtue of her staff, her stoic silhouette recalls the laborers of other Barbizon and Realist painters, and in particular Millet. This comparison – one that can be made repeatedly throughout Jacque’s expansive oeuvre - has led many scholars to ascribe the influence of this master on his friend and colleague Jacque. Careful research, however, reveals that the opposite was true: it was Jacque who first adopted these subjects as his theme, and heroic rusticity – in animals as well as in people - as his aesthetic and philosophy. The appeal of Barbizon subjects among nineteenth-century artists and collectors occurred at a time when the need for escape – both real and imaginary – was high. As regional tourism grew exponentially, and parks and outdoor spaces were constructed in nearly every city and town, France’s urban population began to view Barbizon paintings as another kind of sanctuary in the chaos of modern life. Exhausted by industry and concerned about its affect on the countryside, Jacque’s paintings of bucolic landscapes, honest, simple work, and cows, chickens, and especially sheep, with their vaguely religious overtones, met a need amongst disillusioned mid-century audiences that other genres simply could not fill. The epic proportions of his pictures, moreover, assured collectors of their worth; if seemingly mundane in subject, they were clearly no less worthy of respect and high repute. A testament to its popularity, perhaps, and the special place it held in Jacque’s own, expansive oeuvre, several, nearly identical versions of Le Printemps were produced on panel and canvas, and multiple prints, drawings, and preparatory works are known as well. (The theme of a shepherdess or shepherd and their flock was itself a favorite of Jacque’s and reappears in part or in whole in scores of works throughout his mature career.) It is likely that the Gallery 19c version – the only by the artist to be ascribed a date - is among the earliest of the group; a smaller picture now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, painted on wood and measuring 16 x 11 ½ in. (40.6 x 29.2 cm), reverses the composition, perhaps due to Jacque’s intent to later engrave the work. A third version (present location unknown), once owned by “M. Zygomalas de Marseille,” is the largest of the paintings, measuring 84 x 60 in. (213.4 x 152.4 cm). Zygomalas, a French merchant and prolific art collector active at the turn of the twentieth century, may have owned as many as three versions of Le Printemps, including the present work, at the same or various times. The appearance of Jacque’s work in a private collection in Buenos Aires and at an exhibition in that same city in 1947 is indicative of a larger phenomenon. In the late 1880s, on the heels of an unprecedented financial boom, Buenos Aires experienced an unparalleled influx of European paintings and sculpture and the meteoric rise of a new breed of Argentinian collectors. Eager to compensate for the lack of art institutions in their native country, these men and women regularly shared their works with the public at large, through loans, the opening of their private residences to public view, and the founding of exhibition spaces and galleries, including the Galerias Witcomb. Barbizon paintings featured strongly in these new collections, with Jacque a ubiquitous favorite.