LANDSEER, Sir Eowtx HENRY (1502-73). An eminent English animal painter. He was born in London, March 7. 1802. Under his father's guidance he sketched animals in the fields about London before his fifth year, and before he was twelve he could etch and paint in water-colors and oil. Some of these earliest efforts are preserved in South Kensington Mu seum. He won the silver palette and three medals of the Society of Arts (1S13-16), and made his debut at the Royal Academy Exhibi tion in 1815. Although he seems to have profit ed from the advice of Haydon in 1815. he was not among the latter's pupils, and in 1816 he entered the Academy schools. During the fol lowing years his paintings attracted much at tention. especially his "Fighting Dogs" (18191 and "Alpine Mastiffs Reviving a Traveler in the Snow" (18201. The latter work, engraved by his father and brother, became one of the most popular prints of the day.
In 1825 he went to Scotland, visiting Sir Wal ter Scott, whom he painted with his dogs at Ab botsford. and traveling in the Highlands. This visit was of decisive influence upon his art. A great lover of sport. he learned to know the deer in their native haunts, and was the first to intro duce them into art. His imagination was also affected by the grandeur of mountain scenery. which he used as background for many of his pictures. From this time, too, he began to paint animals, especially the dog, in their relation to man, endowing them with human sentiments. This quality is the chief source of his popularity with the public; but it also distinguishes him un favorably from really great animal painters like Potter, Snyders. and Troyon. who painted ani mals as they really are in nature. lie also in creased the popularity of his pictures by care fully chosen names. Among his most celebrated paintings of this character are "nigh Life" and Life" (1531). National Gallery. a deer hound and a butcher's mongrel ; "A .Tack in Of fice" (18331, South Kensington Museum; "Bol ton Abbey in the Olden Time" (18341. "Chats worth." a picture showing dexterous treatment of dead game: "The 01(1 Shepherd's Chief Mourn er:" "A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society" (1838). and "Dignity and Impudence" (1839), in the National Gallery; "A Random Shot" (1848) ; "Monarch of the Glen" (1851).
Landseer became an associate of the Royal Academy in 1S26, at twenty-four years of age, the earliest allowed by the statutes, and a mem ber in 1831. He frequently drew and painted the
Queen and the Prince Consort, both of whom lie taught etching. Ile was of a nervous tempera ment, and his peculiar sensitiveness to imagined slights filled the latter part of his life with mental depression. In 1S50 he was knighted; in 1855 lie received gold medals at the Paris Exposition, and at Vienna in 1873. In 1S65 lie declined the presidency of the Academy. He died October 1, 1873, and was buried in Saint Paul's Cathedral.
Although not of the same high quality as his animal paintings, Landseer's portraits were frank and natural; among the best are those of himself and of his father. In the "Connoisseurs" lie represented himself as sketching, with a dog on each side watching his progress. He also de signed for engravings, his best designs being his illustrations to the Trarcrley Novels. As a sculptor he designed the fine lions at the base of Nelson's monument in Trafalgar Square, be sides a "Stag at Bay," exhibited the year of his death. In painting he was a facile draughtsman, swift in execution and elegant in line: his color, however, especially in his last corks, is liable to be cold and crude. His works are best known through the large number of excellent engravings made of them, especially by his brother Thomas.
His paintings can only be studied in England. The National Gallery contains. besides the im portant works mentioned above: "Highland Music" (1830) ; "Hunted Stag" (1S3S) "Peace" (1846) ; "War" (1546) ; "King Charles Span iels:" "Sleeping Bloodhound;" "Highland Dogs:" "Alexander and Diogenes." In South Kensington Museum there are: "Highland Drov ers' Departure:" "Dog and Shadow:" "A Fire side Party:" "There is No Place Like Home:" "The Twa Dogs:" "Tethered Rams;" "Suspense;" "Eagle's Nest." 'There are also fine examples at Windsor and in other royal palaces. Among well-known works in private possession are: "Cat's Paw" (1S24) : "Poacher Deer Stalking:" "Otter Speared" (1S44) ; "Monarch of the Glen:" "Swannery Invaded by Eagles:" "Stag at Bay." Consult: Algernon Graves. Catalogue of the Works of Landscer (London, 1S75), which con tains good biographical notices; Stephens, Mem oirs of Landsecr (ih.. 1873), and Sir Edwin Landsecr (ib., 1851) : DafTorne, Pictures by Land seer (ib., 1S73).