=Questions to arouse interest.= What is there in this picture that
suggests the time of year? What are the sheep doing? How many have
watched sheep eat grass? Why do the shepherd and his dog stand in front
of them? Of what use is the shepherd’s crook or staff? What do you see
in the distance? Do you think this is a scene in our own country or in
some foreign country? How are the sheep farthest away represented? Where
does the light fall upon the sheep and upon the man? What kinds of lines
are there in this picture? Tell some of the duties of a shepherd; of a
shepherd’s dog. Why do sheep need so much care? Of what use are they?
Why do you like this picture?
=Original Picture=: Metropolitan Museum, New York City.
=Artist=: Anton Mauve (mōv).
=Birthplace=: Zaandam, the Netherlands
=Dates=: Born, 1838; died, 1888.
=The story of the picture.= The artist has taken us to his own native
country, showing us the beauties of the fields in spring, and giving us
much of their feeling of calm and contentment. The shepherd has led his
sheep safely past the freshly plowed field which we see at the left of
the picture, and now he stands in front of them so they will go more
slowly and eat the grass closer. If one of the sheep should go too fast
he would probably reach out with his long crook, which he would place
around the sheep’s neck, and draw it back. The dog, too, would do his
part to keep it where it ought to be. Sheep prefer to run ahead, taking
a bit of grass here and a bit there, but when they are held back by the
man and dog as in this picture, they will mow the grass as closely and
thoroughly as if a lawnmower had passed over it.
As we look at the picture we find that, though few details are shown,
the sheep in the first row are distinct, while the rest are merely
suggested. Anton Mauve has become famous for this very thing—the
omission of minor details in his pictures and the simplicity with which
he thus tells his story.
We feel the warmth and vigor of this beautiful day in spring, the fresh
green grass with here and there a flower to relieve the green, the soft
green leaves of the young and slender trees planted on each side of the
road at the right of the picture. This road probably leads direct to the
farmhouse we see in the distance. The long meadow, too, seems to reach
as far as that same farmhouse, and no doubt will provide pasture all
summer for the sheep. Their fleecy white wool will grow long. Then will
come sheep-shearing time, and the wool will be sent away to be woven
into cloth.
In the picture the light falls strongly upon the backs of the sheep, on
the head and shoulders of the man, and on the wooden shoes he wears.
The dog stands there expectant, ready to pursue any wayward sheep. It is
wonderful how much these shepherd dogs know, and how much they help
their owners. In some countries the sheep are kept out in the fields or
among the hills all night. The shepherd rolls himself up in a blanket
and sleeps securely near them, knowing full well that the faithful dog
will remain on guard, allowing none to stray away or come to harm.
Sometimes, when the shepherd wishes to collect his flock and drive them
to the fold or inclosure for the night, many of them have wandered up
into the mountains to almost inaccessible heights, but the dog will find
them, every one. He has a way of making the sheep understand what they
are expected to do. He circles around and around them so quickly that
none can escape, and he seems to have some mysterious way of counting
them, for if one is missing off he goes, seldom failing to return with
it.
The story is told of a shepherd who, with but one dog, was guarding
seven hundred lambs. At midnight they suddenly took fright and, dividing
into three sections, disappeared over the hills. The man could do
nothing until daylight, but the morning found the lambs gathered in a
valley and guarded by the faithful dog, from whose vigilance not one had
escaped.
These intelligent shepherd dogs can be made to understand their masters’
wishes even at a great distance, for they understand and obey motions
made with the hands.
Sheep are more helpless than most animals, because they cannot defend
themselves against wild animals and because, having no sense of
locality, they are so easily lost or led astray.
If a flock of sheep is attacked by wolves, and there are several dogs
guarding the flock, very often the dogs will circle around the sheep
until they have crowded them as close together as they can; then one of
the dogs will continue walking around them, while the others attack and
usually beat off the wolves.
[Illustration:
_Sheep in Autumn_
]
Anton Mauve has painted a companion picture to this one. The two
pictures hang on the same wall in the Metropolitan Museum, New York
City. The companion picture is called “Sheep in Autumn,” and, as the
name suggests, it represents a scene in the fall of the year.
The first picture brings to our mind visions of green meadows, newly
ploughed fields, tender grass, and tiny green leaves, quickening into
life and beauty with the arrival of the mild days of spring; but the
second picture has a different story to tell. It is autumn now; the
leaves and grass have ripened to a reddish brown, and the grain has been
gathered from the field at the right of the picture.
The sheep are turned away from us here, and it is not necessary for the
shepherd and his dog to hold them back. There is no young and tender
grass to tempt them, and they are going home. There are many young lambs
with the flock now, born since their mothers went out to pasture, and
they lag behind the rest as if the journey were a long one. We can
almost hear the shrill bleating of the little lambs mingled with the
deeper calls of the sheep as they move along the road.
The shepherd, this time an old man in the autumn of his life, tenderly
carries a little weak lamb under his arm. Perhaps after it has rested,
he will take up another tired one. The dog looks older too. No doubt he
has had a hard summer of it with the care of all these sheep and their
lambs.
By the long shadows, Mauve has told us that it is the end of the day as
well as the end of the year.
There is a strong appeal in this picture when we think of the homecoming
of this little company—the tired young lambs following their mothers,
the tired dog that will now have a long rest, and the kind old shepherd
with the helpless lamb under his arm.
Through both these pictures Mauve has expressed the same sympathy with,
and love for, nature and its many changes of season and weather. It is
difficult indeed to choose one for study in preference to the other, and
it is perhaps for that reason that they are usually studied together.
In our picture of the sheep in spring, with all its suggestions of
growth and beauty, the grass and leaves are luxuriant, and yet the days
and nights are still too cool for the sheep to be sheared. When the warm
days come, the shepherd will probably drive his flock to the river or
some clear stream where, in spite of strugglings to escape, their long,
woolly coats will be scrubbed and cleaned. Then when the wool is
thoroughly dried it will be cut off with large shears and sent to the
manufactories, where it will be made into cloth for the garments we
wear.
Long ago, in our great grandmother’s day, wool was carded, spun, and
woven into cloth by hand. Many families still keep the old spinning
wheels and hand looms which were used in those times.
=Questions to help the pupil understand the picture.= In what country
was this picture painted? What time of year is represented? Why does the
shepherd keep the sheep back? How can he prevent them from going too
fast? How do the sheep prefer to eat the grass? What can you see at the
right of the picture? What is on each side of this road? To what does it
lead? Of what use are the sheep? In what ways can the dog help the
shepherd? How does he keep the sheep together? Tell about the dog and
the seven hundred lambs. How can a trained dog understand his master
even at a distance? In what ways are sheep helpless? How can a dog
protect them from wolves? What is the companion picture to this one
called? How does it differ from this painting? Which one do you like
best? Why? Where are the original paintings?
=The story of the artist.= Anton Mauve was born near the sea in a little
village called Zaandam, the Netherlands. His father was a Protestant
clergyman in this thriving little town known for its oil and paper mills
and its extensive timber trade. When Anton was but a boy, the family
moved to Haarlem where he grew to manhood.
His talent for drawing was soon discovered, but it did not meet with any
favor at home. His father’s strong objections to his becoming an artist
were finally overcome by a compromise. If Anton would promise to win a
diploma as a drawing master, so that he would be sure of earning his
living in case he failed as an artist, then his father would give his
consent. As definite rules were laid down for teaching drawing, and
these rules permitted little or no originality, Anton Mauve found his
promise very hard to keep. However, he persevered. When the course was
finished, he packed his grip and with little in his purse started for
the village of Oosterbeek where a number of other artists lived and
worked. Later he settled in Amsterdam where he worked hard, earning
enough with his painting to support himself.
Mauve painted a great number of pictures, many of them in water color.
He is best known by his flocks of sheep, which he represents in all
seasons and in every kind of weather. Although he lived by the sea, very
few of Mauve’s pictures were of the sea, for he preferred the country
roads leading through green fields, with here and there a flock of sheep
or herd of cattle. He seldom painted a landscape without some figure in
it—a wood-cart, a man on horseback, a peasant woman, or a woodcutter
were his most frequent models. The birch tree, with its graceful,
silvery stem was his favorite tree.
It is said that Mauve was in the habit of making his sketches on his
cuffs, and by keeping the colors in his mind he was able from these
suggestions to paint the pictures which soon brought him fame and honor.
=Questions about the artist.= Who painted this picture? Where was he
born? What compromise did he make with his father? Why did he find it
difficult to do his part? What did he do then? What subjects might we
have expected him to choose for his paintings? What subjects did he
choose? Upon what did he often make his first sketches? How did he
finish these pictures? What were his favorite models? What was his
favorite tree?
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