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?

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.

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?