An Anxious Moment

A gaggle of geese react to the discovery of a squashed, black top hat in their path. Their emotions range from curiosity and consternation to concern, anxiety and outright fear. The Victorian interest in animal psychology was explored in the research of Charles Darwin, whose Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals was published in 1872.

Briton Riviere specialised in animal painting. He was much praised for his ability to depict animal feeling without anthropomorphising his subjects, that is, giving them human characteristics. He made rigorous anatomical studies of bones and muscles from live animals at London Zoo, and even kept a lion carcass in his studio.

Early critics considered this painting ‘the picture of the year for humour’, with The Times noting that the ‘satire is unmistakable’. It received rounds of applause when it was placed on the easel at Christie’s in 1883. It was first shown in the same exhibition at the Royal Academy as Riviere’s Sympathy, which hangs nearby. As one early critic said, the pair demonstrate Riviere’s skill at moving deftly ‘from the sublime to the ridiculous’.

Purchased by Thomas Holloway, 1883.