Read the visual description
This image depicts five sketches of pigs in various poses. The pigs are shown from different angles and positions, with simple but expressive line work capturing their essence with minimal details. One pig is illustrated in a side view on the top left, another facing left on the top right, and a group of three pigs from behind below. A single pig from the rear is on the bottom left, while another from a back-centered perspective is on the bottom right. The drawing's minimalist style and soft pencil lines create an elegant and spontaneous feel.
National Gallery of Art · Print
Animal Sketches
August Gaul
- Medium
- lithograph
- Classification
- Accession number
- 1951.10.285
- Credit line
- Rosenwald Collection
- Time span
- 1851 to 1875
- Department
- CG-E
Subjects and terms
- German
- Cow
- animal
Provenance
Claude Schaefer [1913-2010], Montevideo, Uruguay; sold 1950 to Lessing J. Rosenwald; [1] gift 1950/1951 to the National Gallery of Art. [1] In _Recollections of a Collector_, 1976, p. 56-57, Rosenwald described being approached by a young man in South America who offered to sell his father’s collection of prints that he had brought with him from Germany. Rosenwald gives the year as 1951, but his appointment books confirm that it was actually 1950 - he left for Buenos Aires on 9 February 1950 and returned on 20 March 1950 (Library of Congress, Rosenwald Papers, Box 75). Rosenwald writes that he bought the entire collection of some 1100 prints and drawings, but as they had already been scheduled to be sent to Europe they came to the United States via Antwerp, arriving in the US in late April 1950. Rosenwald decided to keep about a quarter of the collection, destined for the National Gallery of Art, and donate the remainder to other institutions. The inventory log of Alverthorpe indicates that just over 300 works were accessioned there in May of 1950, inventory numbers 50.260-50.530, acquired from Claude Schaefer (Gallery Archives, National Gallery of Art, RG 45A1, Rosenwald Papers, Box 41).
Marks
Verso, stamped in black ink: COMISION NACIONAL DE MUSEOS / Y MONUMENTOS HISTORICOS / JOSE LUIS BUSANICHE / SECRETARIO GENERALE
NGA object ID 40082. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.