Born on this date in 1802 was Sir Edwin Landseer, artist known for his paintings of animals – particularly Horses, Dogs and stags. 10 facts about him.
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He was born in London and was the son of an engraver, who encouraged Landseer’s talent by taking him on country walks and encouraging him to sketch the animals he saw, when he was just five years old.
So nature and nurture combined to produce a young art prodigy. At 11 Edwin won the Royal Society of Arts’s silver palette for his animal drawings. At 13 he exhibited two drawings at the Royal Academy in London.
When he was a teenager, an older artist called Benjamin Robert Haydon suggested that Edwin dissect the carcass of a Lion to help him understand its muscle structure.
It was said he could draw with both hands at once and therefore could work on a horse’s tail with one hand and its head with the other.
Queen Victoria commissioned many portraits from him; at first, her pets, later members of her staff and ultimately, herself and her children. Landseer often included a dog in the children’s portraits. He even gave Victoria and Albert art lessons.
There is a breed of dog named after him – a black and white Newfoundland breed known as the Landseer.
While on the subject of dogs, he is probably responsible for the myth that Saint Bernard dogs carry a small barrel of something alcoholic round their necks when they go out to rescue someone. A Saint Bernard thus equipped appeared in one of his paintings.
He was a sculptor, too. His best known sculptures are the lions in Trafalgar Square.
In 1828, he was commissioned to produce illustrations for the Waverley Edition of Sir Walter Scott's novels.
He died in 1873 aged 71 after suffering ill health for years. He’d been so popular that shops in London lowered their blinds and flags flew at half mast; and thousands lined the route at his funeral. He was buried in St Paul's Cathedral. He left behind several unfinished paintings, which, as per his dying wish, were finished by John Everett Millais.
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