Le Retour du Troupeau [The Return of the Herd], Crèvecoeur

Lepère was a French painter and etcher; having begun his artistic education at age thirteen, by the mid-1870s, he had emerged as a leading printmaker of his time. As in this piece, he focuses on day-to-day events in both his etchings and wood engravings. He also experimented throughout his life with innovations such as combining wood engraving and etching on the same print and with colored papers.

This print demonstrates the astonishing resilience of nostalgic pastoral imagery, even after the transformative impact of the Industrial Revolution and the ravages of the First World War.