Agnes Lunn (1850-1941)
Goat, 1914
Silver

Agnes Lunn grew up in the countryside, and right from an early age she eagerly depicted the family’s various pets and farm animals – mostly horses and cows – in pencil on paper. Despite her talent, her father believed that she should put the art of housekeeping first.¹ Nevertheless, Agnes Lunn was allowed to take private drawing lessons from the painters F.C. Lund (1826–1901) and Otto Bache (1839–1927), and in 1875 she made her debut at the age of 24 at the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition in Copenhagen. Later, from around 1890, she devoted herself to sculpture, which became her primary field.

Although Agnes Lunn preferred to sculpt horses, she also took an interest in other animals. In this case she has modelled a goat rubbing its neck. She has captured the animal’s rather awkward position to perfection – standing half upright with its rear right leg extended and the left one pulled forward, half lying down on two front legs, one of which is extended, the other bent. The animal’s rear part is raised, the heavy udder clearly showing.

Agnes Lunn had a special gift for capturing fleeting moments and modelling extremely complex movements in domestic and farm animals. She never worked with archetypes and she did not idealise her subjects. Quite the contrary. Agnes Lunn created credible depictions of reality, and her familiarity with animal anatomy and movement means that observers, then and now, can learn much about the doings of animal.