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Landseer,
Edwin Henry, Sir. (7th Mar 1802 to 1 Oct 1873).
This
English artist, who was a child prodigy but declared insane later in
life, is best known for his paintings of animals (although he did paint
other subjects), and even better known for his animal sculptures, such
as the lions in Trafalgar square, London (click
here for image link on www.wikipedia.org, of one of the trafalgar-square
lions ).
His
animal art was loved by both the middle classes and the aristocracy
of his time. His animals are very "posed" and conceptually
rather symbolistic (as can also be seen from the titles of the pieces),
almost of the nature of players in theatrical drama, although they appear
more naturalistic than most artists before his time.
For
further information on Landseer, click
here for the Wikipedia.org page.
For
more images of Landseer's paintings, click
here for Wikipedia Creative Commons.
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This
painting "Monarch of the Glen" (1851) is probably his
most famous wildlife painting.
The
pride, strength and vitality of this stag comes through powefully
in Landseers well-known painting. Also the misty mountainous Scottish
landscape and the emotional view of the world typical of the romantic
painters.
(click the image to buy it).
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His
painting "Tiger" is also a fine example of Victorian
wildlife art.
One
can see Landseers emotional view of the tiger as "evil"
. . . see the contrast between the tigers downward looking,
nasty expression, and the upward-looking pride in the stag above!
He does a great job of portraying the emotions he wants to get
accross in this painting. (click the image to buy it).
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"Ptarmigan"
is a fine piece of wildlife art but "Lion in Rocky Landscape"
is rather over-posed and stiff making it somewhat unreal in appearance.
(click an image to buy it).
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Here
are two different renderings of the same Landseer painting, depicting
a scene in Scotland, which was one of his favourite areas to paint.
Looking at the range of paintings above, one can almost read his
mind as he paints stags and lion as regal monarchs, while a tiger
is depicted as more evil and downward looking. One can see that
the animals have significant emotional symbolosim to the artist,
and probably to the majority of the public at the time. (click
an image to buy it) |
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Here
are two more typical Landseer wildlife paintings, "Deerstalkers
Return" and "The Savage". His other hunting depictions
include "Falcon" (a captive hunting falcon) and "Hawk"
(a hawk flown by hunters, catching prey). They both effectively
portray the emotional concent of the scenes.
(click an image to
buy it). |
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More
art by Landseer.
Books
on Landseer, from Amazon.com
click
here to go back to the wildlife art by artist, index.
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