Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 32.djvu/71

Landseer. In this year he also executed a large picture of ‘A Prowlinq Lion,' and a set of live original compositions of lions and engraved by his brother Thomas and in a work called ‘Twenty Engravings of Lions, Tigers, Panthers, and leopards, by Stubbs, Rembrandt, Spilsbury, Reydinger, and Edwin Landseer; with an Essay on the Carnivore by J. Landseer,' and commenced his later series of etchings (seventeen in number), one of which was the portrait of a dog named Jack, the original of his celebrated picture of ‘Low Life,' painted in 1829 and, now in the National Gallery. In 1824 he exhibited at the British Institution the ‘Catspaw,' which was bought by the Earl of Essex, and established his reputation as a humorist. In this year he went to Scotlsnd with Leslie, paying a visit to Sir Walter Scott at Abbotsford. There he drew the poet and his dogs; ‘Maids,’ the famous deerhound who only lived six weeks afterwards, and Ginger an Spice, the lineal descendants of Pepper and Mustard, immortalised as the dogs of Dandie Dinmont in ‘Guy Mannering.' All these drawings were introduced in subsequent pictures, ‘A Scene at Abbotsford’(1827), ‘Sir Walter Scott in Rhymer's Glen' (1833), and other pictures.

The visit to Scotland had a great effect upon Landseer. That country with its deer and its mountains was thenceforth the land of his imagination. He began to study and paint animals more in their relation to man. Lions, bulls, and pigs gave way before the red deer, and even dogs, though they retained their strong hold upon his art, were hereafter treated rather as the companions of man than in their natural characters of ratcatchers and fighters.

In 1826 Landseer exhibited at the Royal Academy a large picture of ‘Chevy Chase' (now the property of the Duke of Bedford), and was elected an associate of the Royal Academy at the earliest age permitted by the rules, being then only twenty-four. He now left his father's house in Foley Street, and went to live at 1 St. John's Wood Road, Lisson Grove, where he remained till his death. In 1827 appeared his ‘Monkey who has seen the World’ (belonging to Lord Northbrook), and his first highland picture of importance, ‘The Deerstalker's Return’ (Duke of Northumberland). In 1828 appeared 'An Illicit Whiskey Still in the Highlands' (Duke of Wellington).

In 1831 he was elected to the full honours of the Academy and in the same year exhibited at the British Institution the two small but celebrated pictures, ‘High Life' and ‘Low Life' (now in the National Gallery), in which he contrasted opposite classes of society as reflected in their dogs—the aristocratic deerhound and the butcher's mongrel. In 1833 this vein of humour was developed in his ‘Jack in Office’ (South Kensington Museum), the first of those canine burlesques of human life to which he owed much of his popularity. The next year he struck another popular note in his picture of ‘Bolton Abbey in the Olden Times’ (Duke of Devonshire), which exactly hit the prevailing romantic sentiment for the past which had been largely developed by Scott's novels, and displayed his power of elegant composition and dexterous painting of dead game. In 1837 he showed the variety of his gifts in ‘The Highland Drover's Departure' (South Kensington Museum), in which perception of the beauty of natural scenery was united with humour and pathos. A deeper note of pathos was sounded in the ‘Old Shepherd‘s Chief Mourner’ (South Kensington Museum), though the mourner was only a dog. In 1838 appeared ‘A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society’ (National Gallery), and ‘There's Life in the old dog yet’ (Mr. John Naylor), in which sympathy is excited for the dog only. In 1840 came ‘Laying down the Law’ (Duke of Devonshire), a scene in a court of law in which judge, counsel, &c., were represented by dog of different breeds, one of the cleverest and most successful of his works of this class. Belonging to this period, though never exhibited, are three noble works, ‘Suspense,’ ‘The Sleeping Bloodhound,' and ‘Dignity and Imprudence.' The first is in South Kensington Museum, and the two others in the National Gallery.

Down to this time (1840) there had been no check in his success, artistic or social. Early in life he made his way into the highest society, and became an intimate and privileged friend of many a noble family, especially that of the Russells. As early as 1823 he painted his first portrait (engraved in the ‘Keepsake') of the Duchess of Bedford, and between that year and 1839 he painted a succession of charming pictures of her children, especially 'Lords Alexander and Cosmo Russell, and Ladies Louisa and Rachel (afterwards the Duchess of Abercorn and Lady Rachel Butler). Some of these, as ‘Little Red Riding Hood,' ‘Cottage Industry,' ‘The Naughty Child' (sometimes called The Naughty Boy,’ but really a portrait of Lady Rachel) and 'Lady Rachel with a Pet Fawn,' are perhaps as well known as any of his pictures. A different version of the last subject, as well as several others of Landseer's works, was etched by the duchess. Among his other