CHAPTER VIII.
A.D. 1862 TO A.D. 1873.
MAN PROPOSES, GOD DISPOSES--THE CONNOISSEURS--THE SWANNERY INVADED--CLOSING YEARS--DEATH OF LANDSEER.
The years 1862 and 1863 were, so far as the Exhibitions were concerned, significantly void of the fruits of Sir Edwin’s art. But 1864 brought good news and good work again; and we all rejoiced over the vigour which was apparent in “Man proposes, God disposes,” an Arctic incident suggested by the finding of the relics of Sir John Franklin. The scene is a piece of rugged ice, the coast-line of that remote land, broken by inlets of dark water. Over all is the greenish light of an Arctic noon; a purple veil of mist is drawn aside, as if a secret were displayed, and in order that we might see what had become of our long-lost countrymen. The veil gone, the rose tints of sunlight fall on the nearest and the highest points of rock-like ice, while light itself penetrates the sea-green blocks, and lurid shadows appear among the masses that strew the shore. Right across the front lies the mast of a boat, covered with brine as hard as a stone, and with a hoary fringe of icicles. A rag of tarpaulin--that may at one time have been the roof of a hut formed amongst the angular blocks--lies over this spar. Beneath this spar are a few planks, bleached in the long frost; and from below them peer a few bones--the rib bones of a man; above these lies a coat of navy blue. A huge white bear, her head on high, holds between cruel jaws a whitened bone. At the other side of the picture, and at the back of the so-called hut, sprawls the formless bulk of a larger bear, whose flattened head is laid along the ice, dragging between its jaws and from beneath the spar the ragged length of a piece of bunting, part of a Union Jack. This work now belongs to Mr. E. V. Coleman. With this painful picture we received that charming piece of manual dexterity, and keenest feeling for animal character, “A Piper and a Pair of Nutcrackers,” a bullfinch perched on a bough, just above the seat of a pair of squirrels. It is now in the possession of Mr. C. Booth.
At the British Institution for this year (1864) we had “Well-bred Sitters, that never say they are bored,” a large painting of dogs, produced with all Sir Edwin’s dexterity although, it may be, not showing all his soundness of drawing, or that finish in which, of yore, he delighted. An enormous black dog sits, as if before an artist, a model of dignity and self-possession; in his mouth is a badger-hair brush, such as painters style a “softener.” By his side a fawn-coloured dog is posed with great elegance. In the foreground are several dead doves, a pheasant, a purple velvet cigar-case, the colour of which serves as a chromatic echo to that of the pheasant’s neck. This was a vigorous picture, showing all we were accustomed to find in Sir Edwin’s later works.
The most interesting, if not the best, picture of 1865 by Landseer was his own portrait, styled “The Connoisseurs,” a humorous piece, comprising portraits of two dogs, who look appreciatively over his shoulder while he makes a drawing. “The flesh painting is too white as well as pinky to be true to nature, opaque and rather coarse, but the dogs who look over his shoulder at the sketch he is making, supply the title to the picture. Canine meditation and the result on a dog’s face of critical habits were never even thought of before, much less ever painted, as they are here. The dog on our right will not, it seems, give a hasty verdict in favour of his master’s work, that on our left will, like other critics, follow his neighbour. If anything could justify a man’s wish to be a dog it would be that Sir Edwin might paint him. What a gentle dog is he on our right!” “Déjeûner à la Fourchette,” a donkey feeding, a boy near, was not a fortunate picture. “Adversity” and “Prosperity” had contrasted subjects in the life of a horse. In the latter we had a superbly elegant bay horse; his hide has an inner glow such as would delight Titian to paint it; he sniffs the air gladly and looks from on high far off; his limbs are perfectly formed, and his body is a model for a Greek sculptor, and although too small in proportion for the body, his head is elegant. By his side is a dandy groom, the least satisfactory part of the picture. “Adversity” gives the other side of the same medal. A cab-horse in a low inn-yard sniffs wearily a mass of corn that is locked up; the shabby collar of servitude is about his neck, and, worse than all, has rubbed to bleeding some of that golden bay skin, which, a little too perfectly it may be, remains to the poor beast of all his beauty, pride, and delight in life; he sniffs in vain, almost afraid to go too near the locked food, and feebly, apologetically, paws the stones with worn hoofs. The artist never told a tale better than by these pictures, and probably never painted a horse’s hide better than that of the youthful model. These works were sold with Mr. Albert Grant’s pictures, April 28, 1877; the former for £1480, the latter for £1501.
The next year, 1866, produced the unfortunate “Lady Godiva’s Prayer;” the finely painted white “Mare and Foal” lying on the grass by the side of an Indian tent; “Odds and Ends, a Trophy for a Hall,” a collection of bucks heads, hunting weapons, &c., grouped with three living dogs, an unlucky grouping. There was likewise a large cartoon, recalling the triptych we have described, and showing a stag rushing at full speed, and followed hard by a great hound, both full of action. In this year Sir Edwin made his first appearance as a sculptor with the vigorous “Stag at Bay,” the fruit of practice of which the then long-delayed Lions for Trafalgar Square were expected to have the benefit. “Wild Cattle at Chillingham Park, Northumberland,” one of the pictures of 1867, gave a fine painting of a magnificent bull, companied by a cow and a calf, standing among heather and rocks. This and a companion picture, “Deer in Chillingham Park,” were destined for a chamber at Chillingham Castle, the seat of the Earl of Tankerville.
In January of this year the Lions were placed in Trafalgar Square: they had been commissioned from Sir Edwin Landseer so long before as 1859. They have monumental poses, with by no means wholly fortunate realistic execution. Their attitudes are undeniably grand, the surface treatment of each figure is excellent; but the incongruity of the two characteristics is injurious to examples of architectonic art. This may be admitted by those who have recognized in the statues from the pediments of the Parthenon, similar characteristics combined in works which, like the Lions, were intended for architectonic service.
The pictures of 1868 do not call for any particular mention. On the other hand, there was one in the Academy in 1869 which recalled to our minds all the artist’s power. This was entitled “The Swannery invaded by Sea-Eagles,” and came a great deal nearer to Snyders’s manner than any Landseer had produced for many years; indeed, since youth had ceased with him he rarely worked with so much solidity, firmness, and with such skill as in that which we think his last noble picture. It shows a group of swans’ nests near the mouth of a mountain river. “From the hills that overlook the ocean, the fierce brown birds have descended on the white brood, and attacked them with beaks and claws. One has a big wader by the throat, and just below the bill that vainly bites his thigh, while with a yellow dreadful claw he tears the downy breast of the victim, so that the red blood streams over it, dashing the plumage of snow to the black foot-webs themselves, which vainly quiver on the ground. Yet the swan fights well, and delivers smashing blows with his wings at his tyrant. The effect of this mode of defiance is seen on the body of another eagle, which, with the ravenous yelp of his kind, returns to the attack on a second swan, and will certainly get the best of it. Already dead between her still fighting fellows, a third swan lies prone, with a grey cygnet beside her. In the air above the nest, other swans flutter away, but in vain, for other eagles are there to destroy the last of those who built near the robbers. The design of the picture may be thus explained, but it would be hard to illustrate the painting of the plumage, or the largeness of the style which pervades this, one of the best painted of Sir Edwin’s works. It belongs to Lord Northampton.
With this noble painting Sir Edwin’s artistic biography, his _auto-biography_, may well be closed. Succeeding works added nothing to our knowledge of his skill, nor were they calculated to illustrate his genius more fortunately than those which have been enumerated and described.
An exceptional painting may fitly have place here; it is described by a correspondent to the “Athenæum,” No. 2396: “To your list of distinguished English artists who have practised scene painting, should be added the name of Sir Edwin Landseer. I have myself seen, in the theatre at Woburn Abbey, a scene painted by him. In the time of the late John, Duke of Bedford, private theatricals were much in vogue at Woburn, and Sir Edwin was then a frequent and honoured visitor, and on one of these occasions he painted the scene in question, which represents the interior of a room, opening in the centre on to a terrace or balcony. In the doorway stands a lady’s dog, marvellously touched, in a listening attitude, with one of the fore-paws uplifted, exhibiting, in a striking degree, all the artist’s wondrous power, even in the coarse and hasty manner incidental to a scene-painter’s art.--H.B.”
* * * * *
A few notes of the prices said to have been obtained for some of the artist’s works may not be unwelcome to the reader, especially as these will show how greatly they increased in value as popular applause justified his labours, and did honour to his achievements. We believe the sums named are substantially correct, but, of course, cannot verify every statement.
In 1831 Edwin Landseer conveyed the copyrights of “Lassie and Sheep,” and “The Widow,” to John Burnet for 150 guineas. In 1850 Sir I. K. Brunel gave £450 for “Scene from a Midsummer Night’s Dream.” It was sold with his pictures, April 21, 1860, for £2800. Mr. Pender gave £3500 for each of the pair of pictures by Sir Edwin, which were in his collection. Mr. Coleman gave the artist £2500 for “Man proposes, God disposes;” Mr. Huth gave him 1000 guineas for “A Piper and a Pair of Nutcrackers.” The painter received £400 for “Bolton Abbey,” £100 for “A Cat’s Paw;” Mr. Vernon gave him £1500 for “Peace” and “War.” For the copyright of these the publisher of the engravings gave, it is said, £3000. £3600 is said to have been paid for the copyright of “A Dialogue at Waterloo.” “The waiting Horse” cost £2500. The four pictures at the Academy in 1846, _i.e._ “Peace,” “War,” “The Stag at Bay,” and “Refreshment,” cost, it is said, for copyright and engraving, at least £10,000. “The tired Reaper,” which measures 14 × 10 inches, was sold in 1858 for 200 guineas. In August, 1860, on the dispersion of Mr. Houldsworth’s collection at Glasgow, “Uncle Tom and his Wife” sold for £800. In 1861 this picture obtained no higher bidding than £590. “A Study of a white Horse,” given by Landseer to Leslie, sold at the latter’s sale for 44 guineas; “A Goat’s Head,” for 240 guineas. In April, 1860, “The Stone-breaker’s Daughter” was sold, with the Redleaf Collection, for 1000 guineas; and a “Portrait of Lord Alexander Russell” for 825 guineas. At Mr. Windus’s sale, March, 1859, Lord Ward bought “A River Scene,” which has not been exhibited, for 440 guineas; “The Sentinel” was sold for £126, in 1861. The sale of Mr. Gillott’s Collection, April, 1872, comprised several works by Landseer; the prices obtained for these are interesting to us; for examples, take “A Landscape,” with a monk proceeding to a cell, an illustration to one of Scott’s novels, £183; “A View in Scotland, with a ruined Abbey,” £110; “Waiting for the Deer to rise,” £1412; “Mount St. Bernard Dogs,” £1827; the “Pointers, To Ho!” (exhibited in 1821) obtained the enormously disproportioned price of £2016. “The Otter Hunt,” 1844, painted for Lord Aberdeen, was sold with Mr. Albert Grant’s pictures, April 28, 1877, for £5932 (?).
Landseer’s “remaining works” were sold by Messrs. Christie, Manson, and Woods, May 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15, 1874. On this occasion “Lady Godiva’s Prayer,” 1866, sold for £3360.
It was amusing to read the lamentations of an “able editor” at the time of the selling of “Peace” and “War.” There was a gentleman of this class who expressed his horror and wrath at the facts in question, and stated himself to be in dread lest Sir Edwin’s success would swallow up all other art, and he declared it to be gravely injurious, as tending to “lock up” the capital of publishers of prints!
It is necessary to add here that most of Landseer’s earlier pictures, show deterioration; others, among which “Bolton Abbey” has prominence, are in a deplorable condition. Extensive cracking, or parting of the outer layer of pigments into what resemble irregular tesseræ, is the common defect. In a less degree Wilkie’s works have suffered in the same manner, and show, notwithstanding repairs, too obvious signs of crack.
* * * * *
With this our subject is exhausted. Further, as to the honours won by Sir Edwin Landseer, and to enumerate them at once: he was knighted in 1850, and received the large gold medal from the authorities of the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1853, being the only English artist who was so distinguished. He declined the Presidency of the Royal Academy when the death of Sir Charles Eastlake and the modesty of Mr. Maclise--who would not receive an honour he merited--induced most of the artists to beg Landseer’s acceptance of the dignity. When Eastlake was elected on the death of Shee, Edwin Landseer had one vote given in his favour as President of the Royal Academy, Mr. George Jones obtained two votes, Eastlake twenty-six.
* * * * *
The closing years of Sir Edwin’s long, otherwise not unhappy, and generally laborious life were darkened in the manner we have already indicated rather than described. He died on the morning of the 1st of October, 1873, and on the 11th of the same month was buried in St Paul’s with full honours.
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF PICTURES BY SIR EDWIN LANDSEER, MENTIONED IN THIS VOLUME.
PAGE
1809} Drawings and Etchings made before Edwin Landseer was to } thirteen years of age 20-28 1814}
1815. Portrait of a Mule 29 Portraits of a Pointer Bitch and Puppy 29
1817. Portrait of “Brutus” 41 Portrait of an Alpine Mastiff 42
1818. Fighting Dogs getting Wind 42 Portrait of a Donkey 44 White Horse in a Stable 44
1819. The Cat disturbed 47
1820. Alpine Mastiffs re-animating a distressed Traveller 47 A Lion disturbed at his Repast 48 A Lion enjoying his Repast 48
1821. Seizure of a Boar 48 A prowling Lion 48 The Ratcatchers 48 Pointers To-ho! 50
1822. The Larder invaded 51 The watchful Sentinel 51
1824. Neptune 52 The Cat’s Paw 52
1825. Taking a Buck 55-59 The Widow 55 The Poacher 55 Portrait of Lord Cosmo Russell 59
1826. The Dog and the Shadow 59 The Hunting of Chevy Chase 55-60
1827. The Chief’s Return from Deer-stalking 61 The Monkey who had seen the World 61 Scene at Abbotsford 62
1829. The illicit Whisky-still in the Highlands 62 A Fireside Party 62
1830. The Stone-breaker’s Daughter 68
1831. High Life 63 Low Life 63 Waiting for the Deer to rise. (Poachers Deer-stalking) 63-69 Too Hot 63
1832. A Lassie herding Sheep 63 Spaniels of King Charles’s breed 64 Hawking 69 Waiting for the Countess 69
1833. The Harvest in the Highlands 69 Jack in Office 69
1834. The Naughty Boy 70 Suspense 72 Highland Shepherd-dog rescuing a sheep from a snowdrift 72 Bolton Abbey in the Olden Time 72 A Highland Breakfast 74
1835. The Drover’s departure 74 A Sleeping Bloodhound 75
1836. Comical Dogs 76 Odin 76
1837. The Highland Shepherd’s Chief Mourner 77 The Shepherd’s Grave 77
1838. Portraits of the Marquis of Stafford and Lady Evelyn Gower 78 The Life’s in the old Dog yet 78 A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society 79
1839. Dignity and Impudence 79 Van Amburgh and his Animals 80
1840. The Lion-dog of Malta 81 Roebuck and rough Hounds 82 Laying down the Law 82
1842. Otters and Salmon 83 The Highland Shepherd’s Home 84 Eos 85 Pair of Brazilian Monkeys 85 Breeze 85
1843. The Defeat of Comus 83-85 Not Caught yet 87 The Sanctuary 85
1844. Otter Speared 83
1844. Shoeing 88 Coming Events cast their Shadows before them; or, the Challenge 85-88
1845. The Shepherd’s Prayer 89
1846. Peace, War 89 The Stag at bay 90
1847. The Drive 90 Portrait of Van Amburgh 90
1848. A random Shot 90 Alexander and Diogenes 90 Old Cover Hack 91 Sketch of my Father 92
1849. The Free Church 92 Evening Scene in the Highlands 92
1850. Dialogue at Waterloo 93
1851. The Monarch of the Glen 94 Geneva 94 The last Run of the Season 94 Titania and Bottom 94 A Highlander in a Snowstorm 95 Lassie 95
1853. The Combat 95 Night 95 Morning 95 The Children of the Mist 95
1856. Saved 97
1857. Scene in Brae-mar 97 Rough and Ready 97 Uncle Tom and his Wife for Sale 97 The Maid and the Magpie 97 Deer browsing 98 Twa Dogs 98 Portrait of Sir Walter Scott 99
1859. Doubtful Crumbs 99 A kind Star 99 The Prize Calf 99
1860. Flood in the Highlands 100
1861. The Shrew tamed 103 The Fatal Duel 104 Scenes in the Marquis of Breadalbane’s Highland Deer Forest 104
1864. Man proposes, God disposes 105
1864. A Piper and a pair of Nutcrackers 106 Well-bred Sitters 106 The Connoisseurs 106 Déjeûner à la Fourchette 107 Adversity 107 Prosperity 107
1866. Lady Godiva’s Prayer 107 Mare and Foal 107 Odds and Ends 107
1867. Wild Cattle at Chillingham Park 108
1869. A Swannery invaded by Sea Eagles 108
INDEX OF NAMES.
Bell, Mr. Jacob, 56, 75
Boydell’s Shakespeare, 5
Byrne, William, 2
Christmas, Mr. T., 46
Cust, Sir Edward (letter from), 24
Fuseli, 42
Haydon, 32
Hayter, J., 30
Hunt, W. H., 19
Landseer, Charles, 14
“ John, 2-12
“ Thomas, 4, 13
Leslie, C. R., 30, 65
Lewis, C. G., 54
Macklin’s Bible, 6
Mackenzie, Mrs., 18, 59, 68
Meteyard, Eliza, 17
Potts, Miss, 6
Raphael’s Cartoons, 45
Redgrave, Mr. R. (Crit. &c.), 65, 72
Romilly, Peter, 1
“ Sir Samuel, 1
Ruskin, Mr. (Criticisms), 63, 73, 77, 88
Simpson, Mr. W. W. (letter to), 41
Smith, Sydney (anecdote of), 60
Vernon, Mr., 64
Wilkie, Sir David, 51
Wornum, Mr. R., 17
GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN’S SQUARE, LONDON.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] An _Edition de luxe_, containing 14 extra plates from rare engravings in the British Museum, and bound in Roxburgh style, may be had, price 10_s._ 6_d._
[2] According to another and generally excellent authority that event occurred in Lincoln eight years later.
[3] It is interesting to trace what may be called the technical descent of these artists. Thus, Aliamet was a pupil of J. P. Le Bas, who studied under Nicholas Tardieu, who learnt his art from Le Pautre and Jean Audran. The master of the last was his uncle Gerard of the same name, who, again, was instructed by his own father Claude and his uncle, Charles Audran, all of them men in the foremost ranks of the engravers. Charles, the first of the great family of “_graveurs_” named Audran, formed his style upon that of Cornelius Bloemaert, a member of another famous line of artists on metal, well known by his superb plate of Guercino’s “St. Peter raising Tabitha from the Dead,” and transcripts of Raphael’s, Titian’s, Parmigiano’s and his own father’s (Abraham Bloemaert’s) pictures. Now, to trace the stream of skill a little farther, and, it must be admitted, to find it getting shallow at this point, let us add that Cornelius Bloemaert’s master was Crispin de Pass, the younger, about whom centres the third family of engravers to whom we have occasion to refer in this long line of tutorage. This De Pass had a brother, William, who came to England, as also did a third brother, Simon, the reproducer of so many “Van Dycks” and “Van Somers.” Crispin de Pass the younger studied his craft under his father, Crispin the elder, who had for a master Theodore Cuernhert, beyond whom, as he was born in 1522, it is needless to carry our recollections, or trace the art-genealogy of the instructor of John Landseer--who, almost three hundred years after the line is first brought into sight here, taught his sons Edwin, Charles, and Thomas.
[4] Boydell and Macklin maintained so close a rivalry that they contended not only as publishers but by means of picture exhibitions, the former as promoter of the “Shakespeare Gallery,” the latter as proprietor of the “Gallery of the British Poets.” These exhibitions contained originals of the engravings which both “patrons” published.
[5] A relation, probably, of the distinguished surgeon, one of whose benevolent labours was that of trying to revive the hanged Dr. Dodd. See Wraxall’s “Posthumous Memoirs,” 1836, ii. 28.
[6] This picture is now in the possession, says Mr. Tom Taylor in “Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds,” of Mr. Gosling, of Portland Place.
[7] Queen Anne Street East was the thoroughfare now called Langham Street and Foley Street, and distinct from Queen Anne Street West, where Turner lived, which retains its name. When Portland Place was extended to Oxford Street, and the new thoroughfare became part of the freshly made Regent Street, Foley House, which till then closed the southern end of Portland Place, was removed. The gardens of this house had separated Queen Anne Street West from Queen Anne Street East; the latter extended to Cleveland Street, and when the changes in question were complete, received the name of Foley Street, which it now bears with the addition of Langham Street. The numbers have been altered. At the back of the present 33, Langham Street is a fine large room with a north light, used as a studio by Mr. Eyre Crowe, A.R.A. In regard to Landseer’s birthplace see a note to Chapter II., below.
[8] This defect was the more remarkable because the French Academy, on which the English one relied for some of its rules, as well as the Academies of Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome, admitted engravers to the highest grades. The effect of British narrowness was to drive Woollett, Sharp, and Strange from the ranks of the Royal Academy, and to evoke from the last of these noteworthy artists an important criminatory tract called “An Inquiry into the Rise,” &c., “of the Royal Academy of Arts,” 1775.
[9] “Diary,” &c., of H. C. Robinson, 1869, i. 505-6.
[10] Evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Arts, &c., 1836. Question and Reply, No. 2046.
[11] “The Literary Gazette,” No. 1834.
[12] For this locality, see above. The number, 83 for 33, may or may not be a misprint. On this point the testimony of Mrs. Mackenzie is all-important, as conveyed thus to the author:--“The house in which my brothers were born stands in the bend of Foley Street, not far from Portland Street; and at the time my father lived in it there was a long garden where the dog was kept. Among some old letters of my mother’s I found the enclosed little note, showing that before my father’s marriage he lived in Queen Ann Street, altered to Foley Street afterwards, but not the same house, but a smaller one nearer Cleveland Street, which house, when my father left, was occupied by Mr. F. Lewis, father of John Lewis, who was born there.--Yours truly, EMMA MACKENZIE.”
[13] Mrs. Mackenzie (born Emma Landseer) has a capital drawing, made in these fields, of a hollow oak, with horses gathered about it, and standing gaunt and branchless in a field, which was doubtless executed at the time in question, and from this tree, which still remains (1880).
[14] At South Kensington is a very interesting collection of early drawings and etchings, of various dates, by Edwin Landseer. These were, for the most part, presented to the nation with the Sheepshanks Gift of Pictures and Drawings. Some of them, we believe, came with the Vernon Gift, and many were undoubtedly for a considerable time in the possession of Mr. Vernon before they passed into the hands of Mr. Sheepshanks. In the Exhibition of Landseer’s works, held at the Royal Academy in 1874, were several sketches executed when he was ten years old. See No. 133, likewise Nos. 136, 139.
[15] It ought to be noted here that the Queen has a considerable number of drawings by Sir E. Landseer, which, with examples from other collections, have been carefully described by Mr. Cosmo Monkhouse, in a richly illustrated work called “The Studies of Sir E. Landseer,” n. d.
[16] Mr. Algernon Graves’s excellent catalogue of the works of Sir E. Landseer enumerates, under “Etchings,” p. 40, a class of examples of this nature, the earliest instance of which is dated 1809, and appears to be that named at the beginning of the next paragraph of our text as “Heads of a Lion and Tiger.”
[17] The author is indebted to Sir Edward Cust for a correction of statements on this head, made in a former edition of this work. As Sir Edward’s letter is interesting on its own account, the reader will accept it entire:--
“Leasowe Castle, near Birkenhead, Oct. 21, 1874.
“SIR,--I am induced to believe that you will thank me for pointing out to you some errors in your ‘Memoirs of Sir E. Landseer’ in a matter in which I am naturally well conversant.
“At page 32 you speak of ‘the etching of Mr. Thomas Landseer of an Alpine mastiff of the great St. Bernard breed’ that had been ‘imported to this country by a gentleman residing in the neighbourhood of Liverpool,’ and by a note to this you refer to the Exhibition at Spring Gardens in 1817 of ‘Brutus,’ the property of W. H. Simpson, Esq., as following another and that is asserted to be an earlier work of Landseer’s--‘a mule’ in 1815.
“At page 60 you speak of ‘the magnificent dog to which we have formerly referred’ as ‘the property of a gentleman in Liverpool or a Mr. Bullock, having reference to the famous picture, ‘Travellers in the Snow.’
“Without giving any opinion as to ‘the minor works of the painter,’ when ‘he was little more than an infant,’ of which of course I know nothing, but I unhesitatingly claim a precedence of the dog before the Mule and Pointer of W. H. Simpson, Esq., in 1815, as well from the facts I will state as from the intercourse with Sir Edwin Landseer himself. ‘The dog’ was the property of my mother-in-law, who resided _here_, and who received it in 1814 from a Swiss gentleman who had obtained ‘Lion’ and another direct from the Monastery of St. Bernard. You will perceive that Thomas Landseer records, in his etching ‘from the drawing by his brother Edwin, that he did it, _aged thirteen_;’ as he was born in 1802, consequently, the etching was made in 1815. Now, Sir Edwin himself told me that it was his _first work_, and of course could not forget any of the circumstances; ‘that he met the dog in London streets under the care of a man servant, whom he followed to Mrs. L. W. Borde’s residence, who permitted him to make a sketch of it.’ Your remark that the drawing was done by Sir Edwin when he was nineteen years of age, and in the year 1821, is clearly a mistake, for ‘Lion’ was never in London since 1815, and died in 1821. There were several litters of puppies in that interval, one of which, a brindled dog that was named ‘Cæsar,’ is with ‘Lion’ in the picture of ‘Travellers in the Snow,’ and I myself sold this one at Tattersall’s, where he fetched thirty-five guineas at open sale, but I never heard who bought him. The breed is now quite extinct.
“I had the pleasure of often speaking with Sir Edwin on this subject, and he told me he had the original sketch somewhere, and that if he could find it I should have it, but of course this was some years ago.
“Yours truly,
“EDWD. CUST.”
[18] At Landseer’s sale, 1874, lot 316, “Old Brutus” realized 630_l._ It must not be forgotten that there are many pictures and studies which bear the names of this dog, and that of his son, another “Brutus.” See below.
[19] In 1874 “A French Hog,” 1814, belonged to the late Mr. J. Hogarth, who then owned another early picture of Sir Edwin’s, called “British Boar,” 1814, which is doubtless the same as the “English Hog” of the text; the animal belonged to Squire Western. As these works were painted in 1814 and etched by E. Landseer in 1818, we have but to remember the national circumstances of that period in order to recognize them as political satires.
[20] The “H.” is always understood as indicating an Honorary Exhibitor, in which capacity the young artist is thrice represented in the catalogue of this the Academy Exhibition for 1815. See below. “Queen Anne Street East” had become “Foley Street” between 1802 and 1815. Landseer, as his sisters tell me, was accepted as an “Honorary Exhibitor” on account of his youth, which was supposed to preclude him from being considered an artist in full.
[21] See “Autobiographical Recollections of the late C. R. Leslie, R.A.” 1860, vol. ii. p. 44.
[22] At the Academy Exhibition, Winter, 1874, No. 144. was “Sir E. Landseer when a Boy.” Drawn by J. Hayter, Esq. Pencil, J. Hayter, Esq.
[23] There appear to be doubts of the extent of E. Landseer’s obligations to Haydon, and the terms employed by the former on this subject (see his “Correspondence,” 1876, ii., p. 288) affirm that the writer had been serviceable to Landseer in making him known, rather than by direct teaching:--“I lent him my dissections from the lion, which he copied, and when he began to show real powers, I took a portfolio of his drawings to Sir George Beaumont’s one day at a grand dinner, and showed them all round to the nobility when we retired to coffee. When he painted his “Dogs,” I wrote to Sir George and advised him to buy it.” “In short, I was altogether the means of bringing him so early into notice. These things may be trifles, but when I see a youth strutting about and denying his obligations to me, I may as well note them down.” “His genius was guided by me.” Again, p. 318 of the same volume, Haydon averred:--“My influence upon English art has certainly been radical. Edwin Landseer dissected animals under my eye, copied my anatomical drawings, and carried my principles of study into animal painting. His genius, thus tutored, has produced sound and satisfactory results.” P. 472 of the same repeats the same claims, and discriminates between the degree of instruction said to have been given to the Landseers generally:--“This was the principle I explained to my pupils; to Eastlake first, and to the Landseers and others afterwards. To Edwin I lent my anatomical studies of the Lion, which guided him to depict dogs and monkeys. Charles and Thomas, Bewick, Harvey, Prentice, Lance, were all instructed in the same principle.” We may add that Mrs. Mackenzie (born Landseer) still owns a human skeleton which was prepared and articulated by her brothers, Thomas and Charles, who occupied a studio at Blenheim Steps, Oxford Street, where they dissected a “subject.”
[24] Forty years before these recollections of ours begin, Foley Street, of the history of which we have already written, was comparatively splendid, and inhabited by persons of distinction. Fuseli had lived in Queen Ann Street East. The neighbourhood was much affected by artists. Mulready had lodged in Cleveland Street, not far off; Newman Street, always artistic, but now so dull and grimy, was then thronged with painters and sculptors; Benjamin West had built himself a gallery there; Stothard (at No. 28) and Banks were numbered among its past, and then present inhabitants. A. E. Chalon was living at No. 71 in Great Titchfield Street; Shee was in Cavendish Square, in the house which had been occupied by F. Cotes and G. Romney; Collins, who was born in Great Titchfield Street, was then at 118, Great Portland Street, and had a house in New Cavendish Street in 1815; Northcote still worked in his gloomy den, 39, Argyll Street; and Edridge, then a fashionable miniature-painter, was at 64, Margaret Street, Cavendish Square; Constable at 63, Upper Charlotte Street, now 76, Charlotte Street, next house on the north side to the church; W. Daniell resided in Cleveland Street, No. 9. Thompson was at No. 11; James Ward at 6, Jackson at 7, Dawe at 22, and Howard at No. 5, in Newman Street; Leslie, as well as Flaxman, in Buckingham Street, Fitzroy Square; the former, with Allston, was at No. 8, the latter at No. 7; Hilton was not remote, at 10, Percy Street; De Wint in the same house; James Heath in Russell Place, Fitzroy Square, No. 15; Hazlitt, then painting portraits in considerable numbers, lived at 109, Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury. Even so early in the century as the period of which we now write, some painters had flown to the then far west region of Kensington; thus, Wilkie sought the quiet of Phillimore Gardens; and Mulready had settled in the Gravel Pits on the Bayswater Road.
[25] See, on a later page of this volume, Mr. Ruskin’s criticism on “Shoeing,” quoted with the account of the pictures painted in 1846.
[26] It has been stated, and probably with truth, that Edwin Landseer obtained a medal, or a silver palette, from the Society of Arts, and at an earlier date than that in question here. But as artists rarely set much store on lay awards of similar kinds to this, it is only necessary to mention this matter. Contributing a work in a competition like that in view can hardly be classed with the act of exhibiting pictures in the Royal Academy.
[27] It is amusing to see how Wilkie puts the Scotchman first in this note, and of a piece with that story of his having, when a “hanger” of one of the Royal Academy exhibitions, actually filled the “line,” or best part of the whole wall-space in the best room, with pictures by Scotch artists. This piece of injustice was too shameless to be allowed to stand, so when Wilkie’s fellow “hangers” discovered the attempted trick, he was told, “This will never do, we must change all this;” and that was done. At another time Wilkie was observed to be carrying a picture through the rooms, and trying to fix it into one place after another, always proceeding from a good to a better position, until attention was attracted by his earnestness, and the question asked, why he was so anxious to promote the work in question. “Oh,” he replied, with exquisite _sang-froid_, “It’s Geddes’s!”
[28] Etty’s pictures of this year were, 59, “The Blue Beetle; Portraits:” 232, “Portrait of the Rev. W. Jay of Bath;” 320, “Ajax Telamon;” and, 375, “A Study.”
[29] The “Elymas” was not one of the Cartoons exhibited in 1818, the two shown in that year being “The Beautiful Gate” and “Christ’s Charge to Peter.” “Elymas” appeared in 1817.
[30] At a later date, when appointments were given to Dyce and others to superintend the Schools of Design, Haydon--who believed himself not only the originator of all modern English movements for promoting the Fine Arts, but the one competent authority respecting them--was bitterly indignant that he was not invited to accept the directorship of the new institution. He asserted the peculiar incompetence of Dyce, and spoke very frankly of his colleagues. See Haydon’s “Correspondence,” 1876, ii., p. 475. No doubt Haydon rightly estimated his own powers in this respect; his real vocation was teaching, which was at that time a faculty rarer than it is now, when we are by no means overstocked with good teachers, practical or literary, in art. He was never so happy as when giving technical counsel, or in lecturing; his published “Lectures” are probably the most practical and potent of their class.
[31] On Mr. Charles Christmas, Sir Edwin’s brother-in-law, see “Notes and Queries,” 5th series, XII. 383. By this it appears that he was an animal painter, who, discovering the superiority of E. Landseer in that line, gave up the race. There were two brothers of this name, Thomas and Charles, (see before). The latter was not a painter, but, we believe, an architect.
[32] The phrase, “lay-element” is already, 1880, passing out of recognition; when this book was formerly published it was in vogue, and understood to refer to those gentlemen who were willing to share the honours of the Royal Academicians; conferring, in return, the prestige which was due to their “distinguished social position and love of art.” These persons were the “lay-element” of the Commission of the Royal Academy. See “Report,” 1864.
[33] Our readers will recollect that, owing to the protest of Sir Edwin Landseer and others, the idiotic practice has abated of cropping from dogs’ ears those flaps which kindly nature placed to keep earth from the organs of earth-burrowing creatures.
[34] Since Landseer’s death this house and studio have been occupied by Mr. H. W. B. Davis, R.A.
[35] This example of extraordinary facility in artistic work may be paralleled, if not surpassed, by the feat which Smith, in his “Nollekens,” ii. p. 143 relates of Sherwin, who engraved, in _four days_ (!), the fine plate from the portrait of the Earl of Carlisle, now at Castle Howard, by Romney. Sherwin engraved Mrs. (“Perdita”) Robinson’s portrait at once upon the copper, without a drawing.
[36] “Art Journal,” where the picture is represented by an engraving.
[37] Mr. William Russell was Accountant-General of the Court of Chancery, fourth son of Lord William Russell, who, May 6, 1840, was murdered by B. E. Courvoisier, his valet.
[38] It has been said that many years ago the Queen and her Consort made etchings after Landseer’s designs, especially from parts of “Bolton Abbey.” Her Majesty and her Consort made at least a dozen etchings from other works of Landseer’s. (See Mr. Algernon Graves’s Catalogue, p. 41.) Speaking of copies of engravings from pictures by our artist, it may be mentioned that many of foreign origin, including a large proportion of piracies, have appeared; among these are, repeatedly, “Bolton Abbey;” “Favourites” (1835), ponies belonging to the Duke of Cambridge; “Dogs of the Great St. Bernard;” “Dignity and Impudence;” “The Return from Hawking;” “Laying down the Law;” “The Lion Dog of Malta;” “A distinguished Member of the Humane Society,” and “A Jack in Office.”
[39] One of the finest and most pathetic of Mr. Ruskin’s criticisms applies to this picture so happily that we ought to quote it here:--“Take, for instance, one of the most perfect poems or pictures (I use the words as synonymous) which modern times have seen--the ‘Highland Shepherd’s Chief Mourner.’ Here the exquisite execution of the crisp and glossy hair of the dog, the bright sharp touch of the green bough beside it, the clear painting of the wood of the coffin and the folds of the blanket, are language--language clear and expressive in the highest degree. But the close pressure of the dog’s breast against the wood, the convulsive clinging of the paw which has dragged the blanket off the trestle, the total powerlessness of the head laid, close and motionless, upon its folds, the fixed and tearful fall of the eye in its utter hopelessness, the rigidity of repose which marks that there has been no motion nor change in the trance of agony since the last blow was struck on the coffin-lid, the quietness and gloom of the chamber, the spectacles marking the place where the Bible was last closed, indicating how lonely has been the life--how unwatched the departure of him who is now laid solitary in his sleep;--these are all thoughts--thoughts by which the picture is separated at once from hundreds of equal merit, as far as mere painting goes, by which it ranks as a work of high art, and stamps its author not as a neat imitator of the texture of a skin, or the fold of a drapery, but as the man of mind.”--“Modern Painters,” ii., 1851, p. 8.
[40] On this picture Mr. Ruskin delivered an admirable criticism:--“Again, there is capability of representing the essential character, form, and colour of an object, without external texture. On this point much has been said by Reynolds and others; and it is, indeed, perhaps, the most unfailing characteristic of a great manner of painting. Compare a dog of Edwin Landseer with a dog of Paul Veronese. In the first, the outward texture is wrought out with exquisite dexterity of handling, and minute attention to all the accidents of curl and gloss which can give appearance of reality, while the hue and power of the sunshine, and the truth of the shadow on all these forms is necessarily neglected, and the larger relations of the animal as a mass of colour to the sky or ground, or other parts of the picture, utterly lost. This is Realism at the expense of Ideality, it is treatment essentially unimaginative.” In a note to this paper the critic added:--“I do not mean to withdraw the praise I have given, and shall always be willing to give, such pictures as the ‘Highland Shepherd’s Chief Mourner,’ and to all in which the character and inner life of the animals are developed. But all lovers of art must regret to find Mr. Landseer wasting his energies on such inanities as the ‘Shoeing,’ and sacrificing colour, expression, and action to an imitation of a glossy hide,”--“Modern Painters,” ii., 1846, p. 194. There is a grain of fallacy mixed with the noble truth of this--it did not follow that the sacrifices here enumerated were due to love for painting the horse’s glossy hide. The picture was defective as stated here, but not because of the realism it exhibited. The defects were inherent, not due to the imitation. Lacking the nobler qualities, the meaner ones became unworthily and ungracefully prominent. The superb _tour de force_ in the painting of the feathers of “Spaniels of King Charles Breed” (see above) does not appear mean, although it is at least equal in successful imitation to the hide in question.
[41] His name “in the world” was “Neptune;” “in society” his female companion’s name was “Venus.”
[42] Several of the descriptions here given have been adapted from fuller ones made by the author before the pictures, and for previous publication in the _Athenæum_ journal, during a long series of years. They thus partake of the character of studies from nature.
End of Project Gutenberg's Sir Edwin Landseer, by Frederick G. Stephens