Editing Edwin Landseer

{{Short description|English painter and sculptor (1802–1873)}}
{{Redirect|Landseer|the eponymous dog breed|Landseer dog||Landseer (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Infobox artist
| honorific_prefix = Sir
| name          = Edwin Landseer
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|RA}}
| image         = Sir Edwin Henry Landseer.jpg
| imagesize     = 
| alt           = 
| caption       = Portrait by [[Francis Grant (artist)|Francis Grant]], 1852
| birth_name    = Edwin Henry Landseer
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|df=y|1802|03|07}}
| birth_place   = London, England
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|df=y|1873|10|01|1802|03|07}} 
| death_place   = London, England
| field         = {{hlist|Painting|sculpture}}
| training      = [[Royal Academy Schools]]
| movement      = [[Animalier]]
| works         = 
| patrons       = 
| influenced by = 
| influenced    = 
| awards        = Great gold medal of the [[Exposition Universelle (1855)]]
| father        = [[John Landseer]]
| mother        = {{#ifexist: Jane Potts|[[Jane Potts]]}}
}}

'''Sir Edwin Henry Landseer''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|RA}} (7 March 1802 – 1 October 1873) was an English painter and sculptor,<ref name=":0">{{cite DNB |first=William Cosmo |last=Monkhouse |wstitle=Landseer, Edwin Henry |volume=2 |pages=64–68}}</ref> well known for his [[animal art|paintings of animals]] – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. However, his best-known works are the [[lion sculpture]]s at the base of [[Nelson's Column]] in Trafalgar Square.

==Life==
[[File:Edwin Landseer.png|thumb|upright|left| Landseer 1873]]
Landseer was born in London, the son of the engraver [[John Landseer]] A.R.A.<ref name=cotes>{{cite book|title=A Victorian Salon: Paintings from the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum|publisher=Russell-Cotes Art Gallery in association with Lundl Humphries|isbn=0-85331-748-8|year=1999}}</ref> and Jane Potts.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|title=Landseer, Sir Edwin Henry (1802–1873), animal painter|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-15984|access-date=2020-11-02|year = 2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/15984}}</ref> He was something of a [[Child prodigy|prodigy]] whose artistic talents were recognised early on. He studied under several artists, including his father, and the [[history painting|history painter]] [[Benjamin Robert Haydon]], who encouraged the young Landseer to perform [[dissection]]s in order to fully understand animal musculature and skeletal structure.<ref name=":0" /> Landseer's life was entwined with the [[Royal Academy]]. At the age of just 13, in 1815, he exhibited works there as an “Honorary Exhibitor”. He was elected an Associate at the minimum age of 24, and an Academician five years later in 1831.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Landseer, Sir Edwin Henry |volume= 16 | pages = 166&ndash;167 }}</ref>

He was an acquaintance of [[Charles Robert Leslie]], who described him as "a curly-headed youngster, dividing his time between [[Stephen Polito|Polito]]'s wild beasts at [[Exeter Exchange|Exeter Chanqe]] and the Royal Academy Schools." They also visited Scotland together in 1824, which had a great effect upon Landseer.<ref name=":0" />

In 1823 Landseer was commissioned to paint a portrait of [[Georgiana Russell, Duchess of Bedford]]. Despite her being twenty years older than he was, they began an affair.<ref name="Scotsman">{{cite web|url=https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle-2-15039/painted-lady-of-passion-1-613377|title=Painted lady of passion|date=20 July 2002|website=The Scotsman|access-date=10 June 2019|archive-date=1 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200901134021/https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle-2-15039/painted-lady-of-passion-1-613377|url-status=dead}}</ref>

He was knighted in 1850, and although elected to be president of the Royal Academy in 1866 he declined the invitation. In his late thirties Landseer suffered what is now believed to be a substantial nervous breakdown, and for the rest of his life was troubled by recurring bouts of melancholy, hypochondria, and depression, often aggravated by alcohol and drug use.<ref>Ormond, ''Monarch'' 125</ref> In the last few years of his life Landseer's mental stability was problematic, and at the request of his family he was declared insane in July 1872.

==Painting==
[[File:Sir edwin landseer.jpg|thumb|Edwin Henry Landseer self-portrait]]
Landseer was a notable figure in 19th-century [[British art]], and his works can be found in [[Tate Britain]], the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]], [[Kenwood House]] and the [[Wallace Collection]] in London. He also collaborated with fellow painter [[Frederick Richard Lee]].

Landseer's popularity in [[Victorian era|Victorian Britain]] was considerable, and his reputation as an animal painter was unrivalled.<ref name=cotes/> Much of his fame – and his income – was generated by the publication of engravings of his work, many of them by his brother [[Thomas Landseer|Thomas]].<ref>Stephens (1880), p. 4.</ref>
[[File:Portrait of an Arab Mare with her Foal by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer.jpg|thumb|left|''Portrait of an Arab Mare with her Foal'' by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer. Circa 1825. Commissioned by [[Charlotte, Princess Royal|Princess Charlotte]] for her lady-in-waiting, Lady Barbara Ponsonby]]
[[File:Edwin Landseer - Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveler.jpg|thumb|''Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveller'' (1820)]]
One of his earliest paintings is credited as the origin of the myth that [[St. Bernard (dog)|St. Bernard]] rescue dogs in the [[Alps]] carry a small casket of [[brandy]] on their collars. ''Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveller'' (1820) shows two of the dogs standing over a man who is partially buried in snow. One is barking to attract attention while the other, who is depicted with the miniature barrel, attempts to revive the man by licking his hand.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/20908/why-are-st-bernards-always-depicted-barrels-around-their-necks |title=Why Are St. Bernards Always Depicted With Barrels Around Their Necks? |last=Soniak |first=Matt |date=18 February 2009 |website=Mental Floss  |access-date=5 February 2018}}</ref>

His appeal crossed class boundaries: reproductions of his works were common in middle-class homes, while he was also popular with the aristocracy. Queen Victoria commissioned numerous pictures from the artist. Initially asked to paint various royal pets, he then moved on to portraits of [[ghillie]]s and [[gamekeeper]]s. Then, in the year before her marriage, the queen commissioned a portrait of herself, as a present for Prince Albert.<ref>Manson (1902), p. 102.</ref>   He taught both Victoria and Albert to etch,<ref>Manson (1902), p. 104.</ref> and made portraits of Victoria's children as babies, usually in the company of a dog.<ref>Manson (1902), p. 105.</ref> He also made two portraits of Victoria and Albert dressed for costume balls, at which he was a guest himself.<ref>Manson (1902), p. 106.</ref> One of his last paintings was a life-size [[equestrian portrait]] of the Queen, shown at the Royal Academy in 1873, made from earlier sketches.<ref>Manson (1902), p. 107.</ref>
[[File:The Monarch of the Glen, Edwin Landseer, 1851.png|thumb|''[[The Monarch of the Glen (painting)|The Monarch of the Glen]]'', 1851: the image was widely distributed in [[steel engraving]]s. Now in the [[Scottish National Gallery]], Edinburgh.]]
[[File:Edwin Landseer Trial By Jury.jpg|thumb|Edwin Landseer [[Trial By Jury]].]]
[[File:The Shrew Tamed.jpg|thumb|"The Shrew Tamed"]]

Landseer was particularly associated with Scotland, which he had first visited in 1824 and the [[Scottish Highlands|Highlands]] in particular, which provided the subjects (both human and animal) for many of his important paintings.<ref name=vernon/> The paintings included his early successes ''The Hunting of Chevy Chase ''(1825–26), ''An Illicit Whisky Still in the Highlands'' (1826–1829) and his more mature achievements, such as the majestic stag study ''[[The Monarch of the Glen (painting)|The Monarch of the Glen]]'' (1851) and ''Rent Day in the Wilderness'' (1855–1868).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/artists-a-z/l/artist/sir-edwin-landseer/object/rent-day-in-the-wilderness-ng-586|title=Rent-day in the Wilderness (1868) – National Galleries Scotland}}</ref> In 1828, he was commissioned to produce illustrations for the Waverley Edition of Sir [[Walter Scott]]'s novels.<ref name=vernon>{{cite book|first=Robin|last=Hamlyn|title=Robert Vernon's Gift|publisher=The Tate Gallery|location=London|year=1993|isbn=1-85437-116-9|page=31}}</ref>

So popular and influential were Landseer's paintings of dogs in the service of humanity that the name [[Landseer (dog)|Landseer]] came to be the official name for the variety of [[Newfoundland (dog)|Newfoundland dog]] that, rather than being black or mostly black, features a mixture of both black and white. It was this variety Landseer popularised in his paintings celebrating Newfoundlands as water rescue dogs, most notably ''Off to the Rescue'' (1827), ''A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society'' (1838), and ''Saved'' (1856). The paintings combine the Victorian conception of childhood with the appealing idea of noble animals devoted to humankind, a devotion indicated, in ''Saved,'' by the fact the dog has rescued the child without any apparent human involvement.

Landseer's painting ''[[Laying Down The Law]]'' (1840) satirises the legal profession through [[anthropomorphism]]. It shows a group of dogs, with a [[poodle]] symbolising the [[Lord Chancellor]].<ref>Manson (1902), p. 101.</ref>

''The Shrew Tamed'' was entered at the 1861 Royal Academy Exhibition and caused controversy because of its subject matter.  It showed a powerful horse on its knees among straw in a stable, while a young woman lies with her head pillowed on its flanks, lightly touching its head with her hand. The catalogue explained it as a portrait of a noted equestrienne, Ann Gilbert, applying the taming techniques of the famous 'horse whisperer' [[John Solomon Rarey]].<ref>''The Times'', Saturday, 4 May 1861; pg. 12; Issue 23924; col A</ref>
<!-- [[File:Sir Edwin Landseer - Rent-day in the Wilderness - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''Rent-day in the Wilderness'', 1868]] -->
Critics were troubled by the depiction of a languorous woman dominating a powerful animal and some concluded Landseer was implying the famous courtesan [[Catherine Walters]], then at the height of her fame.<ref>''Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine'' Vol. 90 (550) Aug 1861 Page 211</ref> Walters was an excellent horsewoman and along with other "pretty horsebreakers", frequently appeared riding in Hyde Park.

Some of Landseer's later works, such as his ''Flood in the Highlands'' and ''[[Man Proposes, God Disposes]]'' (both of 1864) are pessimistic in tone.<ref name=cotes/> The latter shows two [[polar bears]] toying with the bones of the dead and other remains, from Sir [[John Franklin]]'s failed Arctic expedition.<ref>Manson (1902), p. 161.</ref> The painting was purchased at auction by [[Thomas Holloway]] and hangs in the picture gallery of [[Royal Holloway, University of London]]. It is a college tradition to cover the painting with a [[union jack]], when exams are held in the gallery, as there is a longstanding rumour that the painting drives people mad when they sit near it.  In 1862 Landseer painted a portrait of [[Louisa Caroline Stewart-Mackenzie]] holding her daughter Maysie.<ref>Sherwood, Dolly, ''Harriet Hosmer: American Sculptor 1830–1908'', University of Missouri Press, Columbia, 1991 p. 266.</ref>
{{Clear}}

==Sculpture==
[[File:Empire - geograph.org.uk - 1225398.jpg|thumb|One of four Lions around the base of [[Nelson's Column]]]]
[[File:Landseer Edwin-Old Shepherds Chief Mourner 1837.jpg|thumb|''Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner'' (1837; Victoria and Albert Museum, London).]]

In 1858 the government commissioned Landseer to make four gold lions for the base of [[Nelson's Column]] in Trafalgar Square, following the rejection of a set in stone by Thomas Milnes. Landseer accepted on condition that he would not have to start work for another nine months, and there was a further delay when he asked to be supplied with copies of casts of a real lion he knew were in the possession of the academy at Turin. The request proved complex, and the casts did not arrive until the summer of 1860.<ref name=mace>{{cite book |last1=Mace |first1=Rodney  |title=Trafalgar Square:Emblem of Empire |year=1975 |publisher= Lawrence & Wishart|location=London |isbn=085315-367-1|pages=107–8}}</ref> The lions were made at the Kensington studio of [[Carlo Marochetti]],<ref name=survey>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50012 |title=The Smith's Charity Estate: Charles James Freake and Onslow Square Gardens |author=F. H. W. Sheppard |work=Survey of London: volume 41: Brompton |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=1983 |access-date=11 October 2011 }}</ref> who also cast them. Work was slowed by Landseer's ill health, and his fractious relationship with Marochetti. The sculptures were installed in 1867.<ref name=mace/>

==Death==
Landseer's death on 1 October 1873 was widely marked in England: shops and houses lowered their blinds, flags flew at half mast, his bronze lions at the base of [[Nelson's column]] were hung with wreaths, and large crowds lined the streets to watch his funeral cortege pass.<ref>Ormond, ''Monarch'' 135</ref> Landseer was buried in [[St Paul's Cathedral]], London.<ref>"Memorials of St Paul's Cathedral" [[William Sinclair (Archdeacon of London)|Sinclair, W.]] p. 468: London; Chapman & Hall, Ltd; 1909.</ref>

At his death, Landseer left behind three unfinished paintings: ''Finding the Otter'', ''Nell Gwynne'', and ''The Dead Buck'', all on easels in his studio. It was his dying wish that his friend [[John Everett Millais]] should complete the paintings, and this he did.<ref>J{{cite book|first=John Guille|last=Millais|title='Life and Letters of Sir John Everett Millais|location=London|publisher=Methuen|year=1899|volume=2|page=47}}</ref>

In 1876, a 30-foot self-righting lifeboat, built by Woolfe of [[Shadwell]], costing £275, was gifted to the [[Royal National Lifeboat Institution]], and placed at [[Chapel Lifeboat Station]] in [[Lincolnshire]]. Funded by Miss Jennie Landseer, the lifeboat was named ''Landseer'', in memory of her late brother.<ref name="MableNorthLincsJM">{{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Jeff |title=The Story of the Mablethorpe and North Lincolnshire Lifeboats |date=April 1989 |publisher=Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society |page=14 |edition=1st}}</ref>

==Miscellaneous==
Landseer was rumoured to be able to paint with both hands at the same time, for example, paint a horse's head with the right and its tail with the left, simultaneously.  He was also known to be able to paint extremely quickly—when the mood struck him.  He could also procrastinate, sometimes for years, over certain commissions.

The architect [[Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens]] was named after him and was his godson—Lutyens' father was a friend of Landseer.

==Gallery==

<gallery perrow="7" widths="150" heights="150" mode="packed" caption="Paintings">
File:Landseer, Edwin Henry (Sir, RA) - Lion- A Newfoundland Dog - Google Art Project.jpg|''Lion: A Newfoundland Dog'', 1824
File:Edwin Landseer- The Monkey Who Had Seen the World.JPG|''The Monkey Who Had Seen the World'', 1827
File:Edwin Landseer - Attachment.jpg|''Attachment'', 1829
File:Sir Edwin Henry Landseer - A Highland Landscape - Google Art Project.jpg|''A Highland Landscape'', c. 1830
File:Rachel Russell (1826-1898) by Edwin Henry Landseer (1802-1873).jpg|''Rachel Russell'', 1835
File:Edwin Landseer- A Highland Breakfast.JPG|''A Highland Breakfast'', 1834
File:Sir Edwin Henry Landseer - Favourites, the Property of H.R.H. Prince George of Cambridge - Google Art Project.jpg|''Favourites, the Property of H.R.H. Prince George of Cambridge'', 1834 to 1835
File:Edwin Landseer. Falcon.JPG|''Falcon'', 1837
File:A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society by Sir Edwin Landseer.jpg|''[[A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society]]'', exhibited 1838
File:Eos, A Favorite Greyhound of Prince Albert.jpg|''A Favourite Greyhound of Prince Albert'', 1841
File:Windsor Castle in Modern Times. 1841-1845.jpg|''Windsor Castle in Modern Times'', Queen Victoria and her family, c. 1842
File:Edwin Landseer - Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at the Bal Costumé of 12 May 1842 - WGA12439.jpg|''Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at the Bal Costumé of 12 May 1842''
File:Edwin Henry Landseer's Alexander and Diogenes.jpg|alt=|[[Diogenes and Alexander#Landseer's Alexander and Diogenes|Alexander and Diogenes]], exhibited 1848
File:Edwin Landseer - Scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Titania and Bottom - Google Art Project.jpg|''[[Scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', c. 1850
File:Landseer Saved.jpg|''Saved'', 1856
File:Landseer.doutful.crumbs.jpg|''[[Doubtful Crumbs]]'', 1858
File:Edwin Landseer - The Arab Tent - WGA12440.jpg|''The Arab Tent'', 1866
File:Edwin Landseer- The Wild Cattle of Chillingham.JPG|''The [[Chillingham cattle|Wild Cattle of Chillingham]]'', 1867
File:Flood in the Highlands by Sir Edwin Landseer - Sir Edwin Landseer - ABDAG002312.jpg|''Flood in the Highlands'', [[Aberdeen Art Gallery]]
File:Manproposesgoddisposes.jpg|''[[Man Proposes, God Disposes]]'', 1864
</gallery>

==See also==

* [[List of wildlife artists]]
* [[Lost artworks]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book |title=Sir Edwin Landseer R.A. |first=James A. |last=Manson |location=London |publisher=Walter Scott Publishing Co |year=1902 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924014877645}}
* {{cite book |last=Ormond |first=Richard |title=The Monarch of the Glen: Landseer in the Highlands |location= Edinburgh |publisher=National Galleries of Scotland |year=2005}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Frederic George Stephens |last=Stephens |first=Frederic G. |url=https://archive.org/details/siredwinlandsee00stepgoog |title=Sir Edwin Landseer |location=London |publisher= Sampson Low, Marston |year=1880}}

==External links==
{{Commons|Paintings by Edwin Landseer}}
* [http://www.museumsyndicate.com/artist.php?artist=195 Landseer Gallery at MuseumSyndicate]
* [http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/egallery/maker.asp?maker=LANDSEER The Royal Collection]—Landseer works belonging to the British Royal Family.
* [https://artsandculture.google.com/entity/%2Fm%2F035g46 Google Art Project]—Landseer works on Google Art Project.
* {{Gutenberg author | id=38928| name=Edwin Henry Landseer}}
* {{FadedPage|id=Landseer, Edwin Henry|name=Edwin Henry Landseer (illustrator)|author=yes}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Edwin Henry Landseer}}
*{{Art UK bio}}
* {{ws|[[s:Poems of Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in The Keepsake, 1829/Verses|Georgiana. Duchess of Bedford]]}}, engraved by [[Charles Heath]] for The Keepsake annual for 1829 with ''Verses'' by [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]]

{{Edwin Landseer}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landseer, Edwin Henry}}
[[Category:1802 births]]
[[Category:1873 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century English painters]]
[[Category:English male painters]]
[[Category:Burials at St Paul's Cathedral]]
[[Category:Dog artists]]
[[Category:People with mental disorders]]
[[Category:British artists with disabilities]]
[[Category:Royal Academicians]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)]]
[[Category:19th-century English male artists]]