Fritz von Uhde was a devout man. We might well imagine he had the 22nd psalm in mind when he painted this picture.
1 The Lord is my shepherd;
there is nothing I shall want.
2 Fresh and green are the pastures
where he gives me repose.
Near restful waters he leads me,
3 To revive my drooping spirit.
He guides me along the right path;
he is true to his name.
4 If I should walk in the valley of darkness
no evil would I fear.
You are there with your crook and your staff;
with these you give me comfort.
5 You have prepared a banquet for me
in the sight of my foes.
My head you have anointed with oil;
my cup is over flowing.
6 Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me
all the days of my life.
In the Lord's own house shall I dwell
fore ever and ever.
And what a contrast this psalm of confidence offers us. God is not a furious ruler who strikes terror in enemies, but the gentle one who carries a shepherd's staff. Here the artist depicts the pastures of repose and the restful waters. I'd suggest the painting's depiction of a shepherdess might be more biblically accurate, as women often assumed responsibility for minding the animals. Then of course, we know the gospel account of the shepherd (Luke 15:5ff) who recklessly goes off looking for the lost or wandering one, who binds it up tenderly, carrying it home. The cup overflowing? Why not the Mass-chalice containing "the blood which will be shed for you and for all."
Fritz von Uhde could not have known, of course, that some decades later (1933-1945) the name Dachau would become synonymous with the longest running Nazi concentration camp where many thousands died: Jews, Jehovah's Witness, gypsies, homosexuals, clergy (mostly Jesuits), Russians, French, Yugoslavs, Chechs. The total number of those who died in that valley of darkness, will likely never be known.
