Heinrich Schaumann, who works in Munich, had a great predilection for painting cheerful genre scenes in which animals play an important role. A chaotic family scene with a naughty monkey and quarreling dogs and cats, or a pushy spoonbill and monkey in the zoo, testify to both a sense of humour and a thorough knowledge of the character and anatomy of exotic animals. Schaumann also painted itinerant circus artists and their animals, stable and inn interiors and village festivals. The artist received a thorough artistic training at the academy in Stuttgart, followed anatomy lessons at the veterinary school and then made a study trip through Belgium, Holland and England, and to Paris.