Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/297

 L A N L A N 281 la 1826 Landseer was elected an A.R.A. In 1827 appeared the Monkey who had seen tlis World, a picture which marked the growth of a taste for humorous subjects in the mind of the painter, and had been evoked by the success of the Cat s Paw. Taking a Buck, 1825, was the painter s first Scottish picture. Its execution marked a change in his style which, in increase of largeness, was a great improvement. In other respects there was a de crease of solid qualities ; finish, searching modelling, and elaborate draughtsmanship rarely appeared in Landseer s work after 1823. The subject, as such, soon after this time became a very distinct element in his pictures ; ulti mately it dominated, and in effect the popularity of the artist was extended in a greater degree than technical judgment justified. Sentiment gave new charms to his works, which had previously depended on the expression of animal passion and character, and the exhibition of noble qualities of draughtsmanship. Sentimentality ruled in not a few pictures of later dates, and quasi human humour, or pathos, superseded that masculine animalism which rioted in its energy, and enabled the artist to rival Snyders, if not Velazquez, as a painter of beasts. After High Life and Low Life, pictures of 1831, now in the National Gallery, Landseer s dogs, and even his lions and birds, were more than half civilized. It was not that these later pictures were less true to nature than their forerunners, but the models were chosen from different grades of animal society. As Landseer prospered he kept finer company, and his new patrons did not care about rat-catching and dog-fighting, however vigorously and learnedly those subjects might be depicted. It cannot be said that the world lost much when, in exchange for the C.it Disturbed and Fighting Dogs getting Wind, came Jack in Office, the Highland Shepherd s Chief Mourner, and the Swannery invaded by Sea-Eagles, three pictures which are types of as many diverse moods of Landseer s art. and each a noble one. Four years after his election as A.R.A. Landseer was chosen an JR. A. (1830). Chevy Chase (182G), which is at Woburu, and the Illicit Whiskey Still (1829), appeared in the interval, and were followed by High Life and Low Life (1831), and Spaniels of King Charles s Breed (1832) ; the 1 ist is a wondor of brush handling, Landseer had by this time attained such amazing mastery that he painted Spaniel and Rabbit in two hours and a half, and Rabbits, which was at the British Institution, in three-quarters of an hour; and the fine dog-picture Odin (1836) was the work of one sitting, i.e., painted within twelve hours. He begin and finished a whole-length, life-size study of a fallow deer while Mr Wells of Redleaf was at church. A more remarkable feat consisted in drawing, simultaneously, a stag s head with one hand and a head of a horse with the other. Harvest in the Highlands, and that masterpiece of humour, Jack in Office, were exhibited in 1833. In 1834 a noble work of sentiment was given to the world in Suspense, which is now at South Kensington, and shows a dog watching at the closed door of his wounded master. Many think this to be Landseer s finest work, others prefer the Highland Shepherd s Chief Mourner (1837). The over-praised and unfortunate Bolton Abbey, a group of portraits in character, was shown in the same year, and was the first picture for which the painter received 400. A few years later he sold Peace and War for 1500, and for the copyrights alone obtained 6000. Man Proposes (186-4) was resold in 1881 for 6300 guineas, and a cartoon for 5000 guineas. A Distinguished Member of the Hu mane Society, a dog reclining on a quay wall (1838), was succeeded by Dignity and Impudence (1839). The Lion Dog of Malta, and Laying down the Law appeared in 1810. The Defeat of Comus was painted in the summer- house of Buckingham Palace garden in 1842. In this year was finished the capital Highland Shepherd s Home (Sheep shanks Gift), together with the beautiful Eos, a portrait of Prince Albert s most graceful of greyhounds, to which Thomas Landseer added an ineffable charm and solidity not in the painting. The Challenge, and Coming Events cast their Shadows before, were accompanied (1844) by Shoeing (Bell Gift), and followed by Peace, and War, and the Stag at Bay (1846). Alexander and Diogenes, and a Random Shot, a kid dead on snow, came forth in 1848, This year Landseer received a national commission to paint in the Houses of Parliament three subjects connected with the chase. Although they would have been worth three times as much money, the House of Commons refused to grant 1500 for these pictures, and the matter fell through, more to the artist s profit than the nation s gain. The Sanctuary, and Night and Morning, romantic and pathetic deer subjects, came in due order. For the latter a French jury of experts awarded to the artist the great gold medal of the Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1855. The Dialogue at Waterloo (1850) commemorated Land seer s first visit to the continent, and showed how he, like nearly all English artists of original power and considerable fertility, owed nothing to French or Italian training. In the same year he received the honour of knighthood. The Monarch of the Glen (1851) was succeeded by Geneva, a group of asses, a mule, and a bull; Titania and Bottom, which comprises a charming queen of the fairies ; and the dramatic design of the Combat, or Night and Morning, as above. Then came the Children of the Mist (1853), Deer in Repose, Saved (1856), Braemar, a noble stag, Rough j and Ready, Fjncle Tom and his Wife for Sale (1857). The Maid and the Magpie, the extraordinarily large cartoon called Deer Browsing, the Twa Dogs, and one or two minor paintings, were equal if not superior to any pre viously produced by the artist. Nevertheless, signs of breaking health were remarked in Doubtful Crumbs, and a Kind Star (1859). The immense and profoundly dra matic picture called a Flood in the Highlands (1860) more than reinstated the painter before the public, but friends still saw ground for uneasiness. Extreme nervous excita bility manifested itself in many ways, and in the choice (1864) of the dreadful subject of Man Proposes God Dis poses, bears clumsily clambering among relics of Sir John Franklin s party, there was occult pathos, which some of the artist s intimates suspected, but did not avow. In 1862 an! 1863 Landseer produced nothing; but with Man Proposes came a Piper and a Pair of Nutcrackers. The j last triumph of Landseer s career was the Swannery in vaded by Sea Eagles (1869). After four years more, mainly of broken art and shattered mental powers, he died 1st October 1873. He was buried in St Paul s. See Sir E. Landseer, by F. G. Stephens, 1880. (F. G. s.) LANDSHUT, chief town of a government district in Lower Bavaria, is situated on the right bank of the Isar, about 40 miles north-east of Munich. As the seat of government for the district, it contains all the appropriate administrative offices, and it is well supplied with educational and charitable institutions, besides having a convent and several nunneries. Of its numerous ecclesiastical buildings the most interesting are the churches of St Martin (with a spire 463 feet high), St lodocus, and the Holy Ghost, all begun before 1411, and the old Dominican convent, now used as Government offices. The town-house, the former provincial buildings, and the palace are also noteworthy. On a hill commanding the town is the castle of Trausnitz, an ancient stronghold of the dukes of Lower Bavaria. The original castle was built in the 12th century, but the oldest part now extant dates from about 1304. In 1872-73 the upper part was put into habitable order by the king of XIV. 36