Anguish
(Angoisse)
(c. 1878)
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1880
- Gallery location
- 19th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
August Schenck spent most of his career in France, specialising in painting landscapes and animal subjects. For over thirty years he was a regular exhibitor at the Paris Salons, where Anguish was first shown in 1878. In Anguish, Schenck has given the ewe clearly recognisable human characteristics, such as determination and sorrow, so that the viewer immediately identifies with its predicament and emotions. The sinister murder of crows also appear organised and patiently await a moment of weakness. Schenck is here metaphorically examining a broader human condition in the context of an animal painting.
Artwork Details
Purchased, 1880
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Level 2, NGV International
[1] See Agnew’s Picture Stockbook 1879–85, NGA27/1/1/6, pp. 60-61, Thomas Agnew & Sons archive, National Gallery Research Centre, London, https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/research-centre/agnews-stock-books/reference-nga27116-1879-85
Exhibited Salon, Paris, 1878, no. 2026