Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 32.djvu/74

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Landseer
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Landseer

Graves, A.R.A., W. T. Davey, and R. J. Lane, A.R.A. (lithographs). Proofs of the most popular of these engravings are still at a great premium. The large fortune which he left behind him was mostly accumulated from the sale of the copyrights of his pictures for engraving.

Landseer's paintings have greatly increased in value since his death. Even his earliest works fetch comparatively large prices. 'Spaniel,' painted in 1813, was brought in at Mr. H. J. A. Munro's sale (1867) for 304l. 10s.; a drawing of an ‘Alpine Mastiff,' executed two years after, sold at the artist's sale (1874) for 122 guineas; and the picture (painted 1820) of 'Alpine Mastiffs reanimating a Dead Traveler' sold in 1875 for 2,267l. 10s. At the Coleman sale in 1881 the following high prices were given: for a large cartoon of a 'Stag and Deerhound,’ in coloured chalks, 5,250l.; ‘Digging out an Otter,' finished by Sir John Millais, 3,097l. 10s; 'Man proposes, God disposes,' 6,615l; and 'Well-bred Sitters,' 5,250l. The Monarch of the Glen' was sold in April 1892 for over 7,000l., and 10,000l. have been given for the 'Stag at Bay' and for the 'Otter Hunt.'

There are several portraits of Landseer. As a 'boy he was painted by J. Hayter, then himself a boy, as ‘The Cricketer,’ exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1815, and in 1816 C. R. Leslie, in ‘Time Death of Rutland.' There are two lithographs after drawings by Count D’Orsay, 1848. He drew himself in 1829 as 'The Falconer,' engraved in 1830 for ‘The Amulet’ by Thomas Landseer, who in the same year engraved a portrait of him after Edward Duppa. In 1855 Sir Francis Grant painted him, and C. G. Lewis engraved a daguerreotype. 'The Connoissers' belongs to 1865, and a portrait of him by John Ballantyne, R.S.A., to 1866. There is also a portrait by Charles Lanseer, and others by himself. A bust by Baron Marochetti is in the possession of the Royal Academy. In the works was exhibited at the Royal Academy.

By the generosity of private persons, principally Mr. Vernon, Mr. Sheepshanks, and Mr. Jacob Bell, the nation is rich in the works of Lanseer both at South Kensington and the National Gallery, and the British Museum contains a collection of his etchings an sketches.

[Cat. of Works of Sir E. Lanseer by Algernon Graves (a very valuable work full of notes teeming with minute and varied information about Landseer and his works); Memoirs of Sir E. Landseer by F. G. Stephens, Sir Edwin Landseer in Great Artists Ser. by the same; Cunningham's British Painters (Heaton); Pictures by Sir E. Landseer by James Dafforne; Redgrave's Dict.; Redgraves' Century; Bryan's Dict.; Grave's Dict.; English Cyclopædia; Annals of the Fine Arts; Lockhart's Life of Scott; Ruskin's Modern Painters. The Art Journal for a number of years published steel engravings after his pictures in the Vernon and other collections, and in 1876–7 a quantity of cuts after Landseer's sketches, extending over his whole career. The latter ware republished as Studies of Sir E. Landseer, with letterpress by the present writer. Information from Mr. Algernon Graves.]

C. M.


LANDSEER, JESSICA (1810–1880), landscape and miniature painter, born, according to her own statement, 29 Jan. 1810 was the daughter of John Landseer [q. v.] Between 1816 and 1866 she exhibited ten pictures at the Royal Academy, seven at the British Institution, and six at Suffolk Street. She also etched two plates after her brother Edwin—‘Vixen,’ a Scotch terrier (also engraved by her brother Thomas for 'Annals of Sporting'), and ‘Lady Louisa Russell feeding a Donkey’ (1826). A copy by her on ivory of ‘Beauty's Bath’ [see Landseer, Sir Edwin] is in the possession of the Princess of Wales. She died at Folkestone on 29 Aug. 1880.

[Bryan’s Dict.; Stephen's Landseer in Great Artists Series; Graves's Catolugue of the Works of Sir E. Landseer; Graves's Dict.; information for Mrs. Mackenzie, sister of Miss Jessica Landseer.]

C. M.


LANDSEER, JOHN (1769–1852), painter, engraver, and author, the son of a jewe1ler, was born at Lincoln in 1789. He was apprenticed to William Byrne [q. v.], the landscape engraver, and his first works were vignettes after De Loutherboug for the publisher Macklin's Bible and for Bowyer's 'History of England.' In 1792 he exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy. His contribution was a ‘View from the Hermit's Hole, Isle of Wight.' He was living at the time at 83 Queen Anne Street East (now Foley Street), London. His connection with the Macklin family resulted in his marriage to a friend of theirs, a Miss Potts, whose portrait, with a sheaf of corn on her head, was introduced by Sir Joshua Reynolds into the picture of ‘The Gleaners,’ sometimes called ‘Macklin's family picture,' as it contained portraits of the publisher, his wife, and daughter. After his marriage he removed to 71 Queen Anne Street East (now 38 Foley Street), where his celebrated sons were born. In 1795 appeared ‘Twenty Views of the South of Scotland,’ engraved by him after drawings by J. Moore. In 1806 he delivered at the Royal Institution a series of lectures on engraving, still valuable for their