Artist: Adolf Kaufmann (1848–1916)
Title: Flock of Sheep with Shepherdess on a Rainy Day
Date: by 1916
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 102 × 113 cm (40.1 × 44.4 in)
What I love about this painting:
Oh those poor miserable sheep. Sure, they’re wearing wool coats, but it’s autumn, and the rain is cold. The shepherdess isn’t really enjoying the day either, but a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, and this girl’s job is shepherding the sheep.
Seriously, this is a wonderful painting. Kaufmann shows us an exceedingly realistic rainy day in a wooded meadow, with water pooling in muddy places and bedraggled sheep getting their feet wet. Somehow he has managed to convey the sullen mood of the flock, which I can relate to. Fortunately for them, the shepherdess is most likely taking them to higher ground where they can graze without standing in water.
I feel their misery. The rains have returned in force here, and I am glad I no longer have sheep to shepherd, rain or shine. Still, I must leave my cozy apartment and drive to the grocery store, etc., grateful that I am in my warm, dry car and not walking the muddy path Kaufmann shows us in this painting.
About the Artist, via Wikipedia:
Adolf Kaufmann (15 May 1848, in Troppau – 25 November 1916, in Vienna) was a landscape and marine artist from Austria-Hungary.
He was initially self-taught, but completed his studies with the animal painter, Émile van Marcke, in Paris and undertook several study trips, throughout Europe and the Middle East. His residence alternated between Paris, Berlin, Düsseldorf and Munich.
In 1890, he decided to settle in Vienna and opened a studio in the Wieden district. In 1900, together with Carl von Merode [de] and Heinrich Lefler, he opened an “Art School for Ladies”. He continued to visit Paris frequently and, when he painted there, signed his works with the pseudonym “A. Guyot”. Other names he signed with include “A. Papouschek”, “G. Salvi”, “A. Jarptmann”, “R. Neiber”, “J. Rollin” and “M. Bandouch”. Why he did this is unclear, although his choice of signature often reflects stylistic differences. [1]
Credits and Attributions
IMAGE: Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Adolf Kaufmann – Flock of Sheep with Shepherdess on a Rainy Day.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Adolf_Kaufmann_-_Flock_of_Sheep_with_Shepherdess_on_a_Rainy_Day.jpg&oldid=1114083148 (accessed January 29, 2026).
[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Adolf Kaufmann,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Adolf_Kaufmann&oldid=1332903934 (accessed January 29, 2026).
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 