Zoophytes;" and he contributed many articles to the Annals and Magazine of Natural History.—J. H. B.
* LANDSEER, Charles, R.A., born in 1799, like his younger brother Edwin, was in the first instance instructed by his father, then became in 1816 a student in the Royal Academy, and a year or two later a favourite pupil of B. H. Haydon. His subjects have mostly been selected from the writings of our popular poets, novelists, and essayists. Six of his pictures are at South Kensington; in the National gallery (British school), and in the Sheepshanks collection. Mr. Charles Landseer was elected A.R.A. in 1837; R.A. in 1845; and keeper of the Royal Academy in 1851.—J. T—e.
* LANDSEER, Sir Edwin, R.A., the youngest son of John Landseer the engraver, was born in London in April, 1802. Whilst a child he displayed an extraordinary aptitude for drawing; and his taste was sedulously cultivated by his father, who himself instructed the boy, and as soon as he had acquired a little certainty of eye and hand, took him into the fields and commons to sketch the living animals (for which his inclination was from the first very decided) in their natural state, instead of copying prints or drawings. Of his precocity proofs may be seen at the South Kensington museum, where, in the collection of drawings, are exhibited copies made by him in pencil at the age of five, and sketches from life of the heads of horses, bulls, &c., made when from seven to ten years old. At the age of fourteen he began to contribute to the annual exhibitions. At sixteen an oil painting by him of "Dogs Fighting" was a leading attraction at the Spring Gardens exhibition, was purchased by Sir George Beaumont the well-known amateur, and was engraved by Mr. Landseer, senior. This was followed by a portrait of a "Newfoundland Dog with a Rabbit in his Mouth," the size of life; and by the "Dogs of St. Gothard Discovering a Traveller in the Snow," exhibited at the British Institution in 1820, which eclipsed in popularity all his previous efforts, and when engraved by his father, became one of the most popular prints of the day. But neither his popularity nor his precocity led him to neglect the labour which could alone insure permanent success, he had been a student in the Royal Academy; he now sought assistance in his studies from Haydon, one of the best teachers though least successful artists of the day. Under his guidance Landseer made many dissections of animals, including a lion, which died rather opportunely for the young painter's purpose, and of which he made a large number of careful drawings. In 1826, as soon as he was of the prescribed age (twenty-four), Landseer was elected associate of the Royal Academy, and in 1830 academician. He had by this time cast off the dryness of manner and minuteness of imitation which marked his early efforts, and adopted the large and masculine style of treatment which stamp so characteristic an expression on all but the earliest of his works. For the forty years that he has occupied a prominent place in the public eye, Landseer's popularity has never waned. From the very extent of his popularity, however, a large proportion of his time has been occupied in the production of pictures that might have been as well supplied by a feebler hand—the mere portraits of favourite horses, dogs, and monkeys. His more important works embrace a large number of Highland subjects, scenes in which deer are the principal actors—as in his wonderful "Children of the Mist;" "Coming Events;" "Night," and “Morning;" "Deer Stalking," or "The Return from Deer Stalking;" or those in which there is a touch of human interest, as in the "Drover's Departure" (so finely engraved by Mr. Watts); "Flood in the Highlands;" and the "Shepherd's Chief Mourner," one of the most pathetic pictures of its class ever painted. Dogs, it is needless to say, Landseer has painted of all kinds as dogs were never painted before, from the noble bloodhound and Newfoundland dog, down to the scrubbiest little terrier or the sleekest of King Charles' spaniels, with the exactest appreciation of every shade of inward character and outward covering; and with almost every other domestic animal he has been equally happy. Indeed, in this expression of animal character Landseer has not only gone beyond any predecessor, but by linking it with some human sentiment, as in the "Death of the Roe;" the "Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner;" "Laying down the Law;" "Alexander and Diogenes;" "High and Low Life," &c., he has shown how animal character and the incidents of animal life may be rendered capable of dramatic treatment in a picture, and become susceptible of the keenest expression of pathos or of humour. As a master of the technicalities and the mechanism of painting, Landseer is probably unrivalled among English painters. His facility and dexterity of hand are almost marvellous. He has been known to paint complete, from first outlining to the last touch of the brush, and of the size of life, a dog and birds, the head and body of a fallow deer, or a fox examining a trap, in a couple of hours, and yet in neither instance having any appearance of incompleteness. But this rapidity of execution, is not discoverable in his greater works. It is noticeable, however, that he has seldom if ever painted an animal in decided movement; it is always in repose, or at the moment of arrested action. Sir Edwin Landseer is equally skilful with the chalk or crayon as with the brush; his life-size chalk drawings of stags in the exhibition of the Royal Academy of 1861 are in their way as grand as anything he ever executed. He also paints readily in fresco (his "Comus," in the queen's summer-house, is one of the most successful there), and has made some admirable etchings of animals. Soon we may look to see him appear as a sculptor, he having accepted the commission to execute the colossal bronze lions for the Nelson monument in Trafalgar Square, and on the models of which he is reported to have been for some time engaged in Marochetti's studio. Our national collections are rich in Landseer's works, there being fourteen of them in the National gallery (including "A Dialogue at Waterloo;" "Comus;" "High and Low Life;" "War and Peace;" and "Alexander and Diogenes"); and sixteen in the Sheepshanks collection, among which are the exquisite "Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner," and the "Drover's Departure," one of his most elaborate and carefully finished works. Sir Edwin was knighted by the queen in 1850; and received at the French exhibition universelle of 1855 the only large gold medal awarded to an English painter.—J. T—e.
LANDSEER, John, a celebrated line-engraver, was born at Lincoln in 1769. A pupil of Byrne the landscape engraver, he began his professional career by engraving plates for Macklin's Bible, Bowyer's History of England, and other illustrated works published towards the close of the last century, he also published a series of engravings of lions, tigers, and other wild beasts, selected from the works of Rubens, Snyders, and other eminent painters. In 1806 he delivered a course of lectures on engraving at the Royal Institution, which he published in the following year. About this time he was elected associate engraver of the Royal Academy, and became engaged in eager controversy respecting the position of engravers in that institution, and cognate subjects. The love of writing grew on him; he started one or two art periodicals, which, however, met with little success; published several pamphlets; and contributed largely to the journals. He also in 1817 communicated to the Society of Antiquaries a paper on "Engraved Gems brought from Babylon," which was printed in vol. xviii. of the Archæologia. He pursued the subject in a course of lectures on "Engraved Hieroglyphics," delivered at the Royal Institution; and in an elaborate volume of "Sabæan Researches," published in 1823—all of which are pretty nearly valueless. His literary and antiquarian pursuits, and the time he bestowed on the artistic education of his sons, probably left him little leisure or inclination for engraving; at any rate he engraved little more besides his son Edwin's pictures of Dogs Fighting, and the Dogs of Mont St. Gothard, the last being one of his best plates. In 1834 he published a rambling "Descriptive, Explanatory, and Critical Catalogue of the Earliest Pictures in the National Gallery." He died February 29, 1852.—J. T—e.
* LANDSEER, Thomas, eldest son of John Landseer, was born about 1797, and brought up under his father as an engraver, the branch which he ultimately adopted being that of mezzotinto. He has engraved several of his brother Edwin's pictures in a manner which admirably renders the character and surface of the originals. Among the best of these are "The Children of the Mist;" "Deer Stalking;" "The Monarch of the Glen," &c. He also published a series of burlesque etchings of monkeys, entitled "Monkeyana." One of his latest and best plates is the popular print of Rosa Bonheur's Horse Fair.—J. T—e.
* LANE, Edward William, an eminent and popular orientalist who, having acquired some knowledge of the language and literature of the Arabs, became a resident in Egypt during the years 1825-28, carefully studying the manners and character of the inhabitants. He turned his opportunities to such good account, that in his oriental costume he could pass for a Turk, and he was enabled to explore the social and other arcana of Egyptian life. After his return to England, his notes on Egypt
