Animals in Art
“Sheep are able to experience
emotions such as fear, anger, rage, despair, boredom,
disgust, and happiness.”
Dr. Isabelle Veissier et al., Animal
Welfare1
The engraving below is entitled Anguish (Angoisses) 1879
artist Unknown,
after August Friedrich Albrecht Schenck

The following is the original painting (c.
1878) August Friedrich Albrecht SCHENCK

“True
benevolence, or compassion, extends itself through the
whole of existence and sympathizes with the distress of
every creature capable of sensation.”
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) (English essayist, poet,
playwright and politician)
When I first saw the engraving above, I had not up until
then seen the painting, I was profoundly moved, the
artist has captured the anguish of the grieving ewe at
the death of her tiny lamb.

Detail from the painting
Anguish
Standing in the bleak snowy landscape of winter with
large back birds (crows) waiting to devour the flesh of
her newborn her sorrow is palpable. I find that in fact
the engraving more keenly portrays the bleakness of
despair than the painting.
I mostly appreciate art for aesthetic reasons but since
seeing this work anguish most certainly conveys a
meaningful message, particularly in view of the time of
year and the recent death from exposure, pneumonia and
hyperthermia of an estimated million tiny lambs here in
the UK.
Schenck 1828 – 1901 was known for his paintings of
animals, many of which were thought to be allegorical .
"In Anguish, Schenck has given his distraught ewe an
expression suggestive of despair mingled with stoic
determination. Recognizing these decidedly human
responses, the viewer might be expected to identify
immediately with the animal’s grim predicament. The
ewe’s bravery in the face of the threat posed by the
murderous circle of crows is perhaps, however, somewhat
overstated in her defiant stance above the bleeding
lamb.
There is little subtlety evident in this work.
Although Anguish has a sentimental quality, Schenck did
not intend this to be overt. Indeed, his sincerity in
portraying the nobility in animals was not lost on his
contemporaries, with a critic for Le Figaro describing
the artist in 1878 as ‘One of our finest animal
painters. He is one of those originals of the species
not yet extinct who prefer dogs to men and find more
sweetness in sheep than women’. This is by no means a
derogatory statement, but is, rather, a testament to
Schenck’s abilities as a painter. Interestingly, if we
accept that there is an anthropomorphic quality in
Anguish, then the surreal massing of the crows may well
be Schenck’s method of alluding to the inhumanity
prevalent in society"
Read More:
http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/4344/ -
Incidentally I don't see the "stoic determination" only
the despair.
Here is a philosophical interpretation:
"A mother has just lost her child; it is winter, and
there’s no food. She knew he was in danger, she tried to
feed him, she tried to keep him safe but in the end,
after yet another bitter night, he succumbed. Her grief
feels all the more real, all the more like ours, for
being inarticulate and wordless; pure anguish. The crows
are unbearably cruel. They gather when another is in
agony; they sense the opportunity opened up by the
problems of others. They are like the people we most
fear – those who like it when we are miserable. The
scene reminds us of a possibility we glimpse perhaps
only in our own worst moments: that we won’t always be
able to protect what we love, our children, our homes,
our dignity… That they might win."
Read More:
http://thephilosophersmail.com/virtues/painting-alleviates-anguish/
While the above perspectives treat this mostly as a
metaphor for Human anguish and despair such of course
can be manifest in animals, and sheep have emotions
similar to our own.
Consider the following:
Sheep are
capable of compassion and will help others even those of
another species
Jeffery Massom in this book 'The pig who Sang to the
moon' tells the story of Rammo, " a macho two-year old
Ramouillet ram" who formed a special and compassionate
bond with Whisper, a cow who was born blind.
"Rams tend to be loners, and he was a pretty tough
ram, so it seemed unusual that he would take up with a
blind member of another species. But he did"
"He would graze next to her all day and guide her
about the field, making certain she did not bump into
the fence or posts...When she had a calf , Shout, sired
by an Angus bull, Rammo behaved paternally toward the
young animal, more so than even to his own offspring,
several bouncy lambs. Whisper lived to be four years and
than died in 1996 of a viral infection. Rammo mourned
her a long time, standing by her dead body, calling and
calling."
Sheep
grieve for their loved ones
10 Things Most People Don’t Know About Sheep
"Research has shown that many
animals grieve for their lost loved ones, but did you
know that sheep do too? When they lose someone they
love, it can completely shake their world and leave them
feeling lost and unsettled for months. Sheep have been
known to cry out for their lost friends and family in a
desperate attempt to understand why they are no longer
here."
http://www.care2.com/causes/10-things-most-people-dont-know-about-sheep.html
Sheep fall
in love and have best friends
(A) study showed that ewes
fall in love with rams, have best friends and feel
desolate when those close to them die or are sent for
slaughter. The discovery could have important
implications for the way farm animals are treated.
Jonathan Leake, Science Edito
So it can be established that sheep are capable of
grief, therefore it is reasonable that the artist was
actually portraying the anguish of the sheep and there
was in fact no philosophical implication relating to
human beings as such, though of course it can be
implied. I am not inclined to accept artistic
interpretations if they do not originate from the artist
his or herself.
http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/school_resource/art-start/image-bank/
august-friedrich-schenck/
Maybe the
art should be taken at face value which may be to convey
the agony/anguish of a ewe for her dead lamb.
Personally I rather like this description with the
exception of the reference to sheep being the humble
servants of man:
" All the world to-day regards Schenck as one of our
first animal-painters. He is one of those originals, of
a species not yet extinct, who prefer dogs to men, and
finds more sweetness in sheep than in women. With such
fancies one leaves the city for the fields, and has only
to do with animals. Our artist has taken this part after
having profoundly studied his fellow-creatures. Retired
to Ecouen, to a farm, he lives in the midst of oxen,
dogs, goats, asses, horses and sheep of all types,
races, and species ; cares for them, cultivates them,
loves them, and above all studies them, as never artist
studied his models. He knows better than any one their
habitual behavior, their favorite poses, their preferred
attitudes, and the mobile play of their physi- ognomies.
By means of studying closely the joys and griefs of
these' modest companions and humble servants of man, he
has penetrated the inmost recesses of their souls, which
he knows how to show us in pictures of striking truth.
His animals' heads are portraits particularized with all
the care which Cabanel, Uubufe, and Bonnat gave to the
human mask. The picture which he exhibits to-day under
the title of 'Angoisses, ' is pathetic to the last
degree. A lamb is wounded, lying on the ground, losing
its blood, which pours out of a" horrible wound. The
ravens, with their infallible instinct, scent the
approaching death, and await their prey; their sinister
circle is closed in, — the unfortunate little beast
cannot escape them. The mother is- there ; she
comprehends it, the poor creature ! the fate which
awaits her dear nursling, and broken-hearted, full of
anguish [it is the title of the picture, and it is
just], she bleats for the shepherd who comes not. It is
a little drama, this picture, and as poignant as if it
had men for actors and victims."
Reference:
Catalogue of Mr. H.L. Dousman's gallery of valuable
paintings
by George
A. Leavitt & Co
Published 1884
https://archive.org/stream/b1494157/b1494157_djvu.txt or
https://archive.org/details/b1494157
Below another poignant painting by the same artist
entitled The Orphan. Below is a print of this painting.

A similar subject but in reverse the Orphan Lamb left to
fend for his or herself.
His animals' heads are veritable
portraits. In the picture of The Orphan (which is a
companion to Anguish, exhibited with it) the mother is
dead or dying, and the ravens with their infallible
instinct scent the soon-to-be carrion and close their
sinister circle round the sheep and lamb. The poor
living helpless lamb will hardly escape them. It is a
tragedy, and as poignant as if it had a mother and child
for actors and victims. There are few artists more
popular than Schenck and we find the reflected judgment
of the connoisseurs confirming the instantaneous verdict
of the multitude."
http://www.searlecanada.org/schenck/albertschenckdata03.html
Anguish
and animal rights
While the whys and wherefores, interpretations, history
and so on are all very interesting; it is the subject of
the art that rings so true. Both paintings depict the
despair and anguish of these creatures extremely well.
According to this
article the
painting has also been called Agony and indeed the agony
of fear and sorrow is expressed on the sheep's face and
indeed on the face of the orphaned lamb. Amazing art, so
powerful, so moving.
The lot of sheep left to fend for themselves in the
bleak cold uplands of the UK and elsewhere the worldover
has changed very little. You can read in the following
link about the suffering of sheep and lambs who die from
exposure:
https://rantingsfromavirtualsoapbox.wordpress.com/2017/03/23/
lambs-the-cruel-side-of-spring/
Tiny fragile lambs born too early as a result of human
manipulation to ensure they are ready for Easter. Very
much like the paintings, no shepherd comes.
Apparently in a very literal way a bird similar to
crows; ravens, are harming/killing newborn lambs, yet
another hazard to contend with. Hundreds of lambs die as
a result of conservation gone wrong, even 10 to 12 ewes
have died as a result of attacks by ravens.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/01/
death-from-above-the-ravens-slaughtering-newborn-lambs/
Time to stop interfering with nature, time to bring an
end to farming and the enormous suffering not only to
sheep and their vulnerable lambs but all farmed animals
of course.
More paintings dramatically depicting the hardship of
sheep:

Above is a print of Lost: Souvenir of Auvergne (which
may be a religious metaphor)
http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437637

An unknown work
http://www.searlecanada.org/schenck/albertschenckdata24.html
Unfortunately there is not a lot of information about
this artist or this series of paintings. Some of the
information and graphics came from the following
website:
http://www.searlecanada.org/schenck/albertschenckdata03.html
Important:
Please note the information in this blog is included for interest only, it is not suitable for serious study as precise accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Please keep in mind that information included on this blog
has been researched to the best of my ability and any
misinformation is quite by accident but is of course
possible.
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