Le Berger et son troupeau

Parisian publisher Ambroise Vollard first commissioned Chagall to design book illustrations for a deluxe edition of Jean de la Fontaine's Fables in 1926. Vollard's decision to use a Russian-born artist to illustrate a revered French text drew some criticism, but Vollard defended his choice by saying the fables were part of Asia Minor's oral tradition, not France's, and would benefit from being drawn by an artist from the East. Between 1927 and 1930, Chagall produced 100 etched plates to illustrate the fables, but the project was delayed by Vollard's untimely death in 1939 and the outbreak of World War II. It was finally completed in 1952 under the Parisian publisher Tériade. In this etching, Chagall interprets a fable by the Italian writer Abstemius (c. 1440–1508), which tells of a shepherd who harangues his flock to stand as one against a ravenous wolf. Though they pledge to stand and fight, nature prevails and the flock flees at the first sight of the wolf's shadow. Abstemius ends his tale by comparing the fleeing animals with craven soldiers who lose their fighting spirit at the first sound of battle.