The Painting Will Bring You To Tears | Anguish by August Friedrich Schenck

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

Our eyes are immediately drawn
to a female sheep

in the center of the painting.

Her head tilts up to the sky

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

It's almost like we can hear her cry.

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

blood trickling from its mouth
onto the white snow

that blankets the ground.

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

providing us with a clue

that, if the lamb is indeed dead,

it hasn't been for very long-

Encircling them is a group of crows

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

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

There are footprints
that surround the sheep

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

encircling her lamb or the crows.

There's almost no color in this world

which makes it feel more
like Mars or Hell.

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

The black forms of the crows

stand out against
the white snow on the ground.

These little details are so powerful

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

to know immediately what's going on.

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

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

This painting is gut-wrenching

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

is the crows.

They could pester and peck
but they don't.

They simply wait because
when you think about it

that's all they really need to do.

The worst case scenario for them?

The mother sheep eventually moves on.

The best case scenario?

She becomes weak and falls from exhaustion

and the birds get to feast
on both of them.

Looking at it this way,

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

I think we should pause for a second.

This is all very harsh-

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

Someone has died.

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

An attentive group gathers around them
all dressed in black.

What does this sound like to you?

Like a funeral, right?

Does this painting look
any different to you now?

What if, instead of representing brutality,

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

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

who have died .

Maybe Schenck depicts them
doing the same here.

Not much is known about
August Friedrich Schenck.

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

in terms of his acclaim.

We know he was a Danish artist
born in 1828.

we know he later moved to France
to study art

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

it really resonated with people.

There are a couple of reasons for this.

First of all, in the 19th century,

death was at the forefront
of everyone's minds.

Diseases like tuberculosis were rampant

and took many people
.when they were young

and also because Queen Victoria

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

which made death weirdly
fashionable, I guess,

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

Charles Darwin released is book

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

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

like joy, sadness and pain,

that humans do.

These were groundbreaking ideas

and shifted people's mindsets
from thinking about animals

as purely existing for our consumption
and pleasure

to thinking of them
as more like us.

Dr Ted Gott, Senior Curator,
in International Art,

at the National Gallery of Victoria

suggested that this painting

may have been inspired
by Darwin's groundbreaking ideas.

A critic described 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 was meant to be
a compliment, I think.

Indeed, Schenck clearly admired animals

and had a gift for portraying them

in a way that touches our hearts

better than many paintings
of actual people.

And this piece was so popular
that the artist decided

to make another similar painting
titled "Orphan",

where the roles of the lamb and sheep
are reversed.

Schenck was a very successful
artist in his life,

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

But times and tastes changed

and by the mid 1900s,

people thought his art was cheesy, corny

and, over the top, emotional.

Needless to say Schenck became
somewhat of a forgotten artist

although this piece sits among paintings

from much more popular artists
such as Rembrand

and Monet.

It's consistently ranked
as a crowd favorite.

This piece is currently hanging

in the National Gallery
of Victoria in Melbourne.

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

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

once in 1906 and once in 2011.

I think the success of this painting
speaks to the fact

that whether it's 1878 or 2023,

the feeling of pain and loss
resonates with almost everyone

because we're all human.

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

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

the one where the crows
are cruel and selfish

and patiently waiting for their next meal.

When we look at the crows like these,

they can almost look like pure evil to us.

But let's think about this
a little deeper.

Let's drink in the scene for a sec.

It's the dead of winter.

These crows are probably starving,

huddled together, waiting
for the only sustenance they can find

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

how would we feel?

Probably cold, hungry,
maybe anxious about the future.

Would we be mourning the little lamb

or would we be waiting
for our next meal?

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

of what we would do in this situation.

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

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

I had to show it to you guys

but because I know it's super heavy

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