Anguish
(Angoisse)
(c. 1878)
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
151.0 × 251.2 cm
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
Inscription
inscribed in brown paint l.l.: Schenck.
Accession Number
p.307.6-1
Department
International Painting
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
Subjects (general)
Animals Emotions and Mental States
Subjects (specific)
crows (birds) deaths domestic sheep (species) ewes (animals) grief lambs snow (precipitation) winter
Provenance
Exhibited Salon, Paris, 1878, no. 2026; with the Artist's Association, London, 21 November 1879; from where purchased by Agnew's (dealer), London, 1879, stock no. 1323[1]; from where purchased on the advice of Alfred Taddy Thompson, for the NGV, 21 November 1879; arrived Melbourne 1880.
[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
Frame
Original, maker unknown
Frame
The frame on Schenck’s Anguish (purchased 1880 for £1,200) is with little doubt the frame in which the painting was shown at the Paris Salon of 1878. It is in scale and grandeur every bit a Salon frame. All the decorative work is cast and the gilding intended to create the impression of solid metal.
Frame Details
Framemaker
Unknown - 19th century
Date
1878
Materials
Cast plaster, wood and gold leaf
Frame Condition
good original condition