August Friedrich Albrecht Schenck (23 April 1828 – 1 January 1901) was a

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

who was born in

Glückstadt Glückstadt (; da, Lykstad) is a town in the Steinburg district of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located on the right bank of the Lower Elbe at the confluence of the small Rhin river, about northwest of Altona. Glückstadt is part of the ...

Holstein Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...

, now in Germany but then in Denmark. He lived and worked for most of his life in France. He was both French and German by nationality. August Friedrich Albrecht Schenck - Anguish - Google Art Project

August Friedrich Albrecht Schenck - Anguish - Google Art Project

Schenck was a pupil of

Léon Cogniet Léon Cogniet (29 August 1794 – 20 November 1880) was a French history and portrait painter. He is probably best remembered as a teacher, with more than one hundred notable students. Biography He was born in Paris. His father was a painter ...

in France. He became well known for his landscapes and paintings of animals. His works were first exhibited publicly in 1855. ''

Anguish Anguish (from the Latin ''angustia'' "distress") is "extreme unhappiness caused by physical or mental suffering." The feeling of anguish is typically preceded by a tragedy or event that has a profound meaning to the being in question. Anguish can ...

'', perhaps his most famous painting, is an oil-on-canvas work showing a ewe grieving over the dead body of her lamb as they are encircled by ominous black crows. It was acquired by the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in 1880. In 1885 he became knight of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

. Schenck died in

Écouen Écouen () is a Communes of France, commune in the Val-d'Oise department, in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. The 19th-century poet and playwright Pierre-Joseph Charrin (1784–1863) d ...

near

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Biography

As a young man, Schenck left Glückstadt, which was then still Danish, in order to earn a lucrative income as a "wine traveler" in Germany, Russia, and finally, Portugal. After five years he left Portugal for Paris, where he trained as a painter. He became a student of

(1794-1880), a professor at the École des Beaux-Arts. Schenck then settled permanently in France. At the age of 27, he made his debut as a painter at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1855. In 1857, he took part in the Schleswig-Holstein anniversary exhibition. A successful creative period ensued. He was particularly famous for his paintings of animals. Schenck and the French painter

Rosa Bonheur Rosa Bonheur (born Marie-Rosalie Bonheur; 16 March 1822 – 25 May 1899) was a French artist known best as a painter of animals ( animalière). She also made sculpture in a realist style. Her paintings include '' Ploughing in the Nivernais'', fi ...

(1822–1899) were the most sought-after animal painters whose works were collected internationally. Around 1862 Schenck and his wife, Ludowika Stapaczinska, who was born in Warsaw, settled in the town of

, about 20 km north of Paris. The town was known as an artist colony. The École d’Écouen attracted well-known artists, including

Charles-François Daubigny Charles-François Daubigny ( , , ; 15 February 181719 February 1878) was a French painter, one of the members of the Barbizon school, and is considered an important precursor of impressionism. He was also a prolific printmaker, mostly in etchin ...

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast ...

, and

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar De ...

. There are still traces of Schenck in Écouen today: Rue de la Beauvette, on which his property that contained his house and studio was located, was renamed Rue Auguste Schenck in 1906 to honor him. His painting ''L’Échir'' hangs in the town hall, and his painting entitled, ''Lamb of God - Agnus dei'', hangs in the church. Schenck was known nationwide during his lifetime, when major museums acquired his works. Since then his paintings have been acquired by museums internationally. Depicted in a painting he entitled, "Lost", is a flock of sheep attended by two dogs. In the foreground the sheep are shown huddled together during a blizzard and a religious sentiment is represented in the background by a monument with a cross. The painting now hangs in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. August Schenck died on 1 January 1901. His grave is in Écouen, where a road (''rue Auguste Schenck'') is also named after him.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schenk, August Friedrich 1828 births 1901 deaths People from Glückstadt 19th-century German painters 19th-century Danish painters 19th-century French painters 19th-century German male artists Animal painters