Maurice Eduard Lotze (1809-90) was an accomplished landscape painter, but he is better known for his work photographing important infrastructure projects. He was a student at the Academy in Dresden, and settled in Munich in 1830. He later moved to Verona, where he founded an important photographic studio. In 1856 his firm was commissioned to photographically document the construction of the railroad from Verona to Bolzano, which was inaugurated in 1858. Following the success of this project he received commissions to record the construction of Italian railroads, fortifications, and, around 1886, the Verona aqueduct.

In this modest rustic scene, three sheep lie huddled on a hillock, with a fourth standing to the left; they are tended by a shepherd in a red jacket, partly visible behind them on the left; some fallen branches and a ceramic jug lie in the foreground, on the right; with more sheep grazing beyond.