European

Sir Edwin Henry Landseer

England 1802-1873
The Pets 25.0169

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Landseer came to the attention of Queen Victoria, who commissioned a portrait of herself as an engagement present for Prince Albert. Landseer, who came to be known as England's premier animal artist, painted many of the royal pets throughout Victoria's reign and taught both Victoria and Albert to etch. This sentimental scene, of young Lady Rachel Russell offering food to her pet deer "Harty", while kitten plays with its "leash," is typical of Landseer's affectionate treatment of the relation of animals and humans. Landseer was one of fourteen children born to engraver John Landseer. Edwin and his older brothers were instructed in art by their father and at an early age Edwin began sketching animals at the two menageries in London, even bringing home found carcasses of animals and storing them under his bed to make sketching easier. At the age of thirteen, the young Landseer exhibited two paintings of animals at the annual Royal Academy exhibition. Later, along with his brothers, he studied under the artist Benjamin Robert Haydon.

 

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