19TH CENTURY FRENCH ANTIQUE SHEEP LAMB LANDSCAPE OIL PAINTING OLD REALISM 1800s

Description: MASTERFUL OLD 19TH-CENTURY ANTIQUE FRENCH IMPRESSIONIST OIL PAINTING ON CANVAS. (CIRCA 1800s). THIS WORK DEPICTS A HERD OF SHEEP STATIONED IN A WARM AND ATMOSPHERIC SHEEP BARN. THE SHEEP ARE PORTRAYED WITH SOFT TEXTURED BRUSHSTROKES EMPHASIZING THEIR FLUFFY COATS AND THE COZY SETTING, THEIR FORM BLENDING INTO THE AMBIENT LIGHT AND SHADOWS OF THE BARN. THE BARN’S INTERIOR IS SOFTLY ILLUMINATED BY THE NATURAL LIGHT FILTERING THROUGH THE WOOD, CASTING A GENTLE DIFFUSE GLOW OVER THE SCENE. THE DETAILS IN THIS PAINTING ARE SPOT-ON AND AMAZING. THIS PIECE IS SIGNED IN THE LOWER LEFTHAND CORNER. PERHAPS YOU RECOGNIZE THE ARTIST? IT’S OVER 200 YEARS OLD. EXCELLENT OVERALL CONDITION. IT WAS PROFESSIONALLY RESTORED AT SOME POINT. THE CANVAS SHOWS MILD CRAQUELURE AS SHOWN. DIMENSIONS INCLUDING THE FRAME: 26” H x 31” W DIMENSIONS WITHOUT THE FRAME: 19” H x 25” W The history of the domestic sheep goes back to between 11,000 and 9,000 BC, and the domestication of the wild mouflon in ancient Mesopotamia. Sheep are among the first animals to have been domesticated by humans. These sheep were primarily raised for meat, milk, and skins. Woolly sheep began to be developed around 6000 BC. They were then imported to Africa and Europe via trading. Sheep were first domesticated from wild species of sheep at least 5000 BCE, and their remains have been found at numerous sites of early human habitation in the Middle East, Europe, and Central Asia. Domesticated sheep are raised for their fleece (wool), for milk, and meat. The flesh of mature sheep is called mutton; that of immature animals is called lamb. There were estimated to be more than one billion sheep worldwide in the early 21st century. The major national producers are Australia, New Zealand, China, India, the United States, South Africa, Argentina, and Turkey. Countries that have large areas of grassland are the major producers. Domestic sheep differ from their wild progenitors and among themselves in conformation, quantity, and quality of fleece, color, size, milk production, and other characteristics. Most breeds of domesticated sheep produce wool, while a few produce only hair, and wild sheep grow a combination of wool and hair. Several hundred different breeds of sheep have been developed to meet environmental conditions influenced by latitudes and altitudes and to satisfy human needs for clothing and food. Breeds of sheep having fine wool are generally raised for wool production alone, while breeds with medium or long wool or with only hair are typically raised for meat production. Several crossbreeds have been developed that yield both wool and meat of high quality, however. Of the more than 200 breeds of sheep worldwide, the majority are of limited interest except in local areas. No ovine species native to the Americas has ever been domesticated despite being closer genetically to domestic sheep than many Asian and European species. The first domestic sheep in North America—most likely of the Churra breed—arrived with Christopher Columbus' second voyage in 1493. The next transatlantic shipment was with Hernán Cortés in 1519, landing in Mexico. No export of wool or animals is known to have occurred from these populations. Still, flocks did disseminate throughout what is now Mexico and the Southwest United States with Spanish colonists. Churras were also introduced to the Navajo tribe of Native Americans and became a crucial part of their livelihood and culture. The modern presence of the Navajo-Churro breed is a result of this heritage. The following transport of sheep to North America was not until 1607, with the voyage of the Susan Constant to Virginia. However, the sheep that arrived that year were all slaughtered because of a famine, and a permanent flock was not to reach the colony until two years later, in 1609. In two decades, the colonists had expanded their flock to 400 heads. By the 1640s, there were about 100,000 head of sheep in the 13 colonies, and in 1662, a woolen mill was built in Watertown, Massachusetts. Especially during the periods of political unrest and civil war in Britain spanning the 1640s and 1650s, which disrupted maritime trade, the colonists found it pressing to produce wool for clothing. Many islands off the coast were cleared of predators and set aside for sheep: Nantucket, Long Island, Martha's Vineyard, and small islands in Boston Harbor were notable examples. There remain some rare breeds of American sheep—such as the Hog Island sheep—that were the result of island flocks. Placing semi-feral sheep and goats on islands was a common practice in colonization during this period. Early on, the British government banned further export of sheep to the Americas, or wool from it, to stifle any threat to the wool trade in the British Isles. One of many restrictive trade measures that precipitated the American Revolution, the sheep industry in the Northeast grew despite the bans. Gradually, beginning in the 19th century, sheep production in the U.S. moved westward. Today, the vast majority of flocks reside on Western range lands. During this westward migration of the industry, competition between sheep (sometimes called "range maggots") and cattle operations grew more heated, eventually erupting into range wars. Other than the simple competition for grazing and water rights, cattlemen believed that the secretions of the foot glands of sheep made cattle unwilling to graze on places where sheep had stepped. As sheep production centered on the U.S. western ranges, it became associated with other parts of Western culture, such as the rodeo. In modern America, a minor rodeo event is mutton busting, in which children compete to see who can stay atop a sheep the longest before falling off. Another effect of the westward movement of sheep flocks in North America was the decline of wild species such as Bighorn sheep (O. canadensis). Most diseases of domestic sheep are transmittable to wild ovines, and such diseases, along with overgrazing and habitat loss, are named as primary factors in the plummeting numbers of wild sheep. Sheep production peaked in North America during the 1940s and 1950s at more than 55 million head. By 2013, the number of sheep in the United States was 10 percent of what it had been in the early 1940s. In the 1970s, Roy McBride, a farmer from Alpine, Texas, invented a collar filled with the poison compound 1080 to protect his livestock from coyotes, which tended to attack the throat. This device is known as the livestock protection collar and is in widespread use in Texas, as well as in South Africa. In South America, especially Patagonia, there is an active modern sheep industry. Sheepkeeping was introduced mainly through immigration to the continent by Spanish and British peoples, for whom sheep were a primary industry. South America has many sheep, but the highest-producing nation (Brazil) kept only just over 15 million head in 2004, far fewer than most centers of sheep farming. The primary challenges to the sheep industry in South America are the phenomenal drop in wool prices in the late 20th century and the loss of habitat through logging and overgrazing. The most influential region internationally is Patagonia, the first to rebound from the fall in wool prices. With few predators and almost no grazing competition (the only large native grazing mammal is the guanaco), the region is prime land for sheep raising. The most exceptional production area is surrounding the La Plata River in the Pampas region. Sheep production in Patagonia peaked in 1952 at more than 21 million head but has steadily fallen to fewer than ten today. Most operations focus on wool production for export from Merino and Corriedale sheep; the economic sustainability of wool flocks has fallen with the price drop while the cattle industry continues to grow.

Price: 5000 USD

Location: Pasadena, California

End Time: 2024-09-25T15:53:28.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD