Antoine-Jean GROS, known as Baron GROS (Paris 1771 - Meudon 1835) The shepherds of Arcadia Canvas 36.2 x 30 cm (old restorations) Provenance : - sale of paintings, sketches, drawings and sketches by M. Le Baron Gros, peintre d'histoire..., Paris (Me Bonnefons), 23 - 27 November 1835, no. 24 ; - collection J. B. Delestre. Offset by Jean-Baptiste Delestre when the painting was in his collection (see Gaston Delestre collection, his sale "Collection Gaston Delestre Deux siècles de passion familiale", Artcurial, 22 March 2017, no. 90); - sale after the death of M. J. B. Delestre, artiste-peintre, Paris, Hôtel Drouot (Me Delbergue-Cormont), 13 October 1871, no. 4 (160 fr); Damoye père collection; - vente aux enchères publiques après décès de Mme Veuve Damoye de tableaux anciens et modernes..., Paris, Hôtel Drouot (Me Vannes), 1er octobre 1891, n° 33 ; - private collection, France. Bibliography: - J.B. Delestre, Gros sa vie et ses ouvrages, 2nd ed, Paris, 1847, quoted p. 19, reproduced fig. 10 (a drawing illustrating the composition) ; - J. Triper le Franc, Histoire de la vie et de la mort du baron Gros, le grand peintre, rédigée sur de nouveaux documents et d'après des souvenirs inédits..., Paris, 1880, quoted pp. 51-52 (dated circa 1791); - G. Dargenty, Le Baron Gros, Paris, 1887, quoted p. 6 ("he was twenty years old at the time and this small composition is one that is well understood and executed at that age"). Our painting can be compared with several drawings in the Louvre and one in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. We would like to thank Gérard Augier for confirming our attribution of the painting, based on a visual examination of the work in May 2026.