Sheep
1905
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1905
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
August Gaul painted a single sheep standing in a simple grassy field. The animal faces left, its wool roughly textured like thick yarn. A low wooden fence cuts the space behind it in half. Gaul carved wood before he painted it. He liked animals. This one looks sturdy, not sweet. You can almost hear its breathing. See how the light skims the sheep’s back? That’s called chiaroscuro—it’s when artists use strong light and dark to show shape. Look up August Gaul (German, 1869–1921) next.
