WEBVTT

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This piece is called "Anguish"
by August Friedrich Schenck.

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Our eyes are immediately drawn
to a female sheep

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in the center of the painting.

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Her head tilts up to the sky

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and we can see her breath
reminding us of the cold winter air.

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It's almost like we can hear her cry.

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If we scan down we see the lifeless body
of a lamb lying beneath her,

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blood trickling from its mouth 
onto the white snow

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that blankets the ground.

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We can see the raking of the lamb's leg
imprinted in the snow

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providing us with a clue

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that, if the lamb is indeed dead,

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it hasn't been for very long-

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Encircling them is a group of crows

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which, I just learned,
is actually called a murder.

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If you ever need to know that
for trivia or something.

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There are footprints
that surround the sheep

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leaving us to wonder whether they're
from from the mother sheep

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encircling her lamb or the crows.

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There's almost no color in this world

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which makes it feel more
like Mars or Hell.

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The sheep is almost the same
muddy brownish gray color as the sky,

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The black forms of the crows

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stand out against
the white snow on the ground.

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These little details are so powerful

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but you only need to take 
a quick glance at this painting

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to know immediately what's going on.

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A mother sheep cries out in despair
over the death of her lamb,

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as a group of crows 
wait patiently to feast on it.

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This painting is gut-wrenching

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but I think the most interesting
and potentially disturbing part about it

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is the crows.

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They could pester and peck
but they don't.

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They simply wait because
when you think about it

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that's all they really need to do.

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The worst case scenario for them?

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The mother sheep eventually moves on.

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The best case scenario?

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She becomes weak and falls from exhaustion

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and the birds get to feast 
on both of them.

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Looking at it this way,

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the crows seem to embody the cruelty
and selfishness that exists in our world.

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I think we should pause for a second.

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This is all very harsh-

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Let's dim the lights and I invite you
to envision something with me now.

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Someone has died.

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OK, that was still pretty harsh,
but follow me here.

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An attentive group gathers around them 
all dressed in black.

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What does this sound like to you?

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Like a funeral, right?

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Does this painting look 
any different to you now?

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What if, instead of representing brutality,

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the crows are supposed to be mourning
alongside the mother sheep?

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In fact, in the wild crows are known
to hold funerals for their fellow crows

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who have died .

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Maybe Schenck depicts them
doing the same here.

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Not much is known about 
August Friedrich Schenck.

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Let's just say he'd know Jan van Eik
or Leonardo da Vinci

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in terms of his acclaim.

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We know he was a Danish artist
born in 1828.

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we know he later moved to France
to study art

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When "Anguish" was first exhibited
in the Paris Salon of 1878

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it really resonated with people.

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There are a couple of reasons for this.

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First of all, in the 19th century,

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death was at the forefront 
of everyone's minds.

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Diseases like tuberculosis were rampant

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and took many people
.when they were young

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and also because Queen Victoria

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was mourning her late husband,
Prince Albert, at the time,

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which made death weirdly 
fashionable, I guess,

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but also because a few years,
before this painting was created,

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Charles Darwin released is book

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"The expression of the emotions
in man and animals".

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This book introduced the idea that animals
share some of the same emotions

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like joy, sadness and pain,

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that humans do.

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These were groundbreaking ideas

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and shifted people's mindsets 
from thinking about animals

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as purely existing for our consumption
and pleasure

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to thinking of them
as more like us.

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Dr Ted Gott, Senior Curator, 
in International Art,

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at the National Gallery of Victoria

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suggested that this painting

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may have been inspired 
by Darwin's groundbreaking ideas.

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A critic described the artist in 1878
as one of our finest animal painters.

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He is one of those originals 
of the species not yet extinct

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who prefer dogs to men

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and find more sweetness
in sheep than women.

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This was meant to be
a compliment, I think.

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Indeed, Schenck clearly admired animals

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and had a gift for portraying them

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in a way that touches our hearts

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better than many paintings
of actual people.

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And this piece was so popular
that the artist decided

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to make another similar painting 
titled "Orphan",

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where the roles of the lamb and sheep
are reversed.

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Schenck was a very successful
artist in his life,

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so much so that he was made 
a Chevalier of the Legion.

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But times and tastes changed

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and by the mid 1900s,

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people thought his art was cheesy, corny

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and, over the top, emotional.

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Needless to say Schenck became
somewhat of a forgotten artist

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although this piece sits among paintings

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from much more popular artists
such as Rembrand

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and Monet.

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It's consistently ranked 
as a crowd favorite.

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This piece is currently hanging

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in the National Gallery
of Victoria in Melbourne.

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The gallery has around 75,000 works
in its permanent collection

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but "Anguish" has been voted twice 
as one of the Museum's most popular works,

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once in 1906 and once in 2011.

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I think the success of this painting 
speaks to the fact

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that whether it's 1878 or 2023,

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the feeling of pain and loss
resonates with almost everyone

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because we're all human.

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Unless you're a sheep then you're a sheep.

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But let's go back to the first
interpretation of this painting,

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the one where the crows 
are cruel and selfish

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and patiently waiting for their next meal.

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When we look at the crows like these,

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they can almost look like pure evil to us.

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But let's think about this
a little deeper.

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Let's drink in the scene for a sec.

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It's the dead of winter.

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These crows are probably starving,

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huddled together, waiting
for the only sustenance they can find

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and I think, if we were in their shoes,
or talons, I should say,

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how would we feel?

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Probably cold, hungry, 
maybe anxious about the future.

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Would we be mourning the little lamb

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or would we be waiting
for our next meal?

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I wonder if Schenck is encouraging us
to ask the tough question

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of what we would do in this situation.

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because maybe the only cruel thing 
in this painting is the winter.

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This painting is painful, sad,
beautiful and very, very special.

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I had to show it to you guys

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but because I know it's super heavy

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I wanted to end with some
of my favorite cute animal paintings.