Biographical Information

Sir Edwin Landseer
British 1802-1873

Sir Edwin Henry Landseer was born in 1802 into an artistic family. He was the son of John Landseer, ARA, an important engraver. He was the youngest of three sons of an engraver, all of whom were to study under the great Romantic painter, Benjamin Robert Haydon. From his youngest days, Landseer had always been an inspired to paint animals, but Haydon encouraged him to study animal anatomy to instill a greater rigor and technical correctness into his work.

It is this detailed knowledge, coupled with the extraordinary naturalism of his work, which marked him as out as one of the greatest exponents of his genre. The outstanding quality of Landseer's work is also augmented by his tendency to give his animal scenes a moral dimension, which made his paintings particularly appealing in an age which valued sentimentality in its art. His animal pictures were outstanding and were the most prolifically engraved subjects of the time.

Landseer’s work became well known in the 1830s. His brother, Thomas, made engravings of his paintings, which were widely circulated, and his originals were popular amongst both the aristocracy and, importantly, the newly emergent middle-class. He made his first trip to Scotland in 1824, when he fell in love with the wild landscapes of the Highlands. He visited Sir Walter Scott, the celebrated writer, who was so impressed with his work that he chose him as one of the illustrators to the Waverley edition of his novels.

Landseer was well-known in aristocratic circles, and received royal patronage after 1836 and was knighted in 1850. He was a gr eat favorite of Queen Victoria for whom he painted a number of works. Among his most notable achievements was the modeling of the lions in Trafalgar Square. In 1850 he visited the queen at Balmoral to paint a large group portrait of the royal family, and was knighted that year, even though the painting was never finished.

He exhibited at all the major exhibitions but refused the Presidency of the Royal Academy when offered in 1865. In later life, he suffered from depression and illness and eventually slipping into madness. Landseer died in 1873. His studio sale was held at Christies in 1874. After his death major exhibitions of his work were hold  in London in 1876,1968 and 1982.