LAN
LAN
making much use of the needle. His works were highly esteemed. He died February 29, 1852, in his 83rd year, leaving three sons, who had become eminent in art. In addition to the two periodical works above mentioned, he published, in 1807, ' Lectures on the Art of Engraving;' in 1817, 'Observations on the engraved Gems brought from Babylon;' in 1823, 'Sabaean Researches: Essays on the en- graved Hieroglyphics of Chaldea, Egypt, and Canaan /in 1833, * Engravings illus- trating the Holy Scriptures; ' in 1834, ' A Descriptive Catalogue of Fifty of the earliest Pictures in the National Gallery,' and ' Some Account of the Dogs and the Pass of St. Bernard.'
•* LANDSEER, Sir Edwin Henry, Knt.. R.A., animal painter. He was the third and youngest son of the foregoing, and is stated to have been born in Queen Anne Street, London, 7th March, 1802, the date which was placed on his coffin, though there is some question, even in his family. as to the year of his birth. Surrounded by art associations, he seemed destined to be an artist: his young genius was very early developed under his lather's teaching, and he received a premium for his drawing of * A Horse for Hunting ' from the Society of Arts. Fond of animals and of the sports to which this attachment naturally led. as a boy he haunted the itinerant wild beast shows, and, sketch-book in hand, watched the action of dogs when matched to fight or at rat-killing. So trained, at the age of 14 he was admitted to study in the Academy schools, and was also an exhi- bitor at the Academy Exhibition, sending ' The Heads of a Pointer Bitch and. Puppy; and in 1817, to the Water-Colour Society, which then admitted works in oil, his ' Mount St. Bernard Dogs; ' and in 1818,
- Fighting Dogs getting Wind; ' and at the
same time he exhibited at the Academy, ' Brutus,' the portrait of a dog, with the portrait of an 'Old Horse.'
Up to this time his studies had been chiefly from nature, and his father now introduced him to B. R. Haydon, who superintended his progress, though he did not become his pupil, and advised him to dissect and make anatomical studies of animals. In this course, taking advantage of the death of a lion in one of the mena- geries, he studied carefully its anatomy, which gave him a power in the drawing of that animal notable in his future works. Making rapid progress, in 1820 he exhi- bited at the British Institution 'Alpine Mastiffs reanimating a Distressed Travel- ler;' in 1821, at the Academy, a 'Prowling Lion; ' in 1822? a ' Lion Disturbed; ' ana at the Institution, the same year, 'The Larder Invaded,' for which the directors awarded him 15<tf.j and in 1824, 'The
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Cat's Paw,' a monkey seizing the cat's paw to take the roasting chestnuts from the fire, one of the first of nis paintings in which a well-known moral was so happily combined with humour.
By these works he had already established a reputation. In 1825 he exhibited at the Academy a ' Portrait of Lord Cosmo Rus- sell,' a boy on his rough little pony scam- pering over the heather, followed, in 1826, by the 'Interior of a Highland Cottage and 'Chevy Chase;' and having reached the prescribed age of 24 years, he was at once elected an associate of the Academy, and now commenced the exhibition of a series of fine works, addressed to the com- prehension and tastes of all, fully confirm- ing the high opinion so early formed of his art, and highly popular — in 1827, he exhi- bited at the Academy ' The Monkey who had seen the World,' a careful work, full of genius and sly humour; in 1832, ' The Pets/ a sweet picture of a child feeding a fawn. At the British Institution, in the same year. ' Lassie Feeding Sheep;' and in 1833, at the Academy, a .Jack m Office,' and 'The Hunted Stag.'
As he matured his art, the field before him widened, and attracted by the talk of Highland sport and the allurements of deer- stalking, he was led to visit the Highlands, where, in his yearly succeeding visits, he found so many attractive subjects for his
Sencil. In 1834 he exhibited at the Aca- emy a 'Highland Breakfast,' a young mother suckling her babe, with a group of eager dogs, one with a litter of pups at its teats, feeding at her feet, and 'Bolton Abbey in the Olden Time/ In 1835 he sent to the Institution 'The Sleeping Bloodhound,' a simple but probably one of his best coloured and most vigorous works : and to the Academy, in 1835, a ' Highland Drover's Departure for the South, a fine and elaborate work, crowded, perhaps over- crowded, with his fertile conceptions, inci- dents so full of feeling that not one would willingly be spared. In the mean time he had been elected a full member of the Academy in 1831, and had now reached the highest rank in his profession. His works were justly esteemed by all, the theme of popular admiration, yet, receiving only very inadequate prices for them, ana even these not promptly paid, he suffered pecuniary inconveniences painful to his sus- ceptible nature.
Of the works which he now exhibited at the Academy, maintaining the high reputa- tion he had gained, the following may be mentioned :— In 1837, ' The Return from the Chase.' with ' The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner/ his faithful dog watching beside the coffin, its action 2 and the whole of the accessories of the picture, forming a work of almost human pathos; 1838, ' A Dis^
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