Herdwick a "smit") of marking sheep for ownership. Before chemical dyes became available, this dye was made from either iron ore or graphite mixed with grease. For many years the legal method of identifying a particular shepherd's sheep were notches cut out of a sheep's ear, called "lug" marks—now replaced by ear tags. Herdwick The Herdwick is a breed of domestic sheep native to the Lake District of Cumbria in North West England. The name "Herdwick" is derived from the Old Norse "herdvyck", meaning sheep pasture. Though low in lambing capacity and perceived wool quality when compared to more common commercial
Jakob Smits married Malvina Dedeyn, the daughter of a Brussels lawyer, who is disinherited because of this marriage. Smits lived in poverty while he worked tirelessly for what he calls "my simple work, symbolic, poetic and real". In 1897, he received a gold medal for his exhibitions of large water-colour paintings on a gold background in Munich and Dresden. He also painted many portraits, especially of Malvina and of their children Boby, Marguerite and Kobe. In 1899 destiny struck: in a few days he lost his daughter Alice and his wife. In 1901, Smits married Josine Van Cauteren. In the same year