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"M OTHER, this picture in my book looks like Bruno, grandfather's big dog," said Paul looking up from the book he was reading. "And mother," asked the boy, "what does this name below the picture mean?"
"What is the name, Paul?"
"Landseer," answered the child.
"That is the name of the man who painted the picture," said mother.
"Do you remember the picture of an old man that hangs in grandfather's library, Paul?"
"Yes, mother, and when I asked grandfather whose picture it was he said it was the portrait of your grandfather."
"Well, Paul, when I was a little girl I used to sit on my father's lap and he would tell me stories about the old gentleman whose portrait hung on the wall.
"When this man, whose name was William, was a little boy he lived in the great city of London. Like all boys he had several playmates, but the boys he played with most were three brothers who lived in the very next house. One of the boys became an artist. He painted pictures of many animals but he liked best to paint pictures of dogs. William had a beautiful dog which had been given to him by his father.
"Jack, as the dog was called, always shared in all the fun with William and his friends. One day Edwin, the youngest of these neighbor's boys, asked to borrow Jack.
"What do you want with him," asked William. "I want to paint his picture," the boy replied.
"William thought it would be very nice to have a picture of his pet, so he loaned his dog to his playmate. The picture in your book is a copy of the one Edwin painted. It is not old Bruno's picture, but it is a picture of Jack, the dog that my grandfather had when he was a little boy, and it was painted by Sir Edwin Landseer, the great English artist."
Paul was very much interested in what his mother had told him. The next day after school when he went to the library, he asked for a book about Landseer. And you may be sure he read every word of it, for he wanted to know more about the English boy who played with mother's grandfather and who painted such splendid pictures of dogs.
Shall I tell you some of the things which Paul learned about this artist and his pictures?
As you know, there were three boys in this family. Their names were Thomas, Charles and Edwin. There were also one or two sisters and the father and mother. The mother was a beautiful woman and spent much of her time teaching her children or playing with them. One of the games they liked most was for mother to draw a picture for them. Then each one would copy it, trying to see whose was the best.
John Landseer was the father's name. He worked in a place where they made many beautiful things from silver and gold. He also knew a very nice way of making pictures. He would take a large block of wood, or a plate of steel. On this he would draw the picture. Then he would cut into the lines of the drawing with a sharp knife or tool of some kind. From this plate many pictures could be printed and each one would look just like the one that had been drawn on the wooden block or the steel plate.
All about the great city of London are many beautiful fields and nice farm houses. In these fields were horses, cows, goats, donkeys and sheep. And about the yards there was sure to be one or two dogs. The street in which the Landseers lived was near the edge of the city, as we would say. The boys loved the country, as most boys do, and they often took long walks over these beautiful fields. They never tired of watching the animals in the pasture, and soon learned to know all the dogs by name.
Before his children had learned to read or write, John Landseer had taught them to draw pictures. And like all little children they thought this was great fun. Every day their father took a walk with them. There was one place where they all liked to go. It was a great field called Hampstead Heath. They would walk until they were tired and then sit down under an old oak tree and draw the picture of one of the animals about them.
"Well, boys, what shall we draw today?" the father would ask at breakfast time.
"A cow," "The little lamb," "That frisky donkey," "The old horse," "The shepherd's dog," the boys would shout.
"I think we had better vote which it shall be," Mr. Landseer would say.
After they had voted, they would get their caps and pencils and paper and start for the country. Little Edwin was so small that his father had to lift him over the fences, but he liked to go so well he was never left at home.
"There is our dog," said the little fellow, one bright June morning, as they walked across the field toward the farmer's house. They had voted to draw what the baby asked for that day, and he nearly always chose the dogs.
All four sat down on the grass under the oak tree and began their pictures. John Landseer watched them as they worked.
"Charles, your dog's ears are too long." And, "Thomas, a dog doesn't have a mane like a horse," said the father. "Stop and look at the real dog more closely and try to make a better picture."
Then little Edwin came running to his father with his drawing. His fat round hand could hardly hold a pencil, but you should have seen the happy smile on his childish face when his father said, "Edwin's picture is the best. His dog looks just like the shepherd's dog that is watching the sheep yonder."
Edwin was only about four years old but he had learned to look very carefully at what he was drawing. He did not make a goat look as big as a cow or put horns on a horse.
When Edwin was five years old and Thomas twelve, they had a race. Each drew a dog asleep on the floor. Edwin won because his picture looked just like the old dog, but Thomas' looked more like a goat or a sheep than a dog.
Another time when they were out for a walk, Charles had chosen to draw a horse. Each boy worked very hard to make a good drawing of the old horse that was eating grass in the pasture. When they came home, the boys ran to their mother to show her their pictures. When little Edwin gave his to her she said, "Bless the child, he has drawn the doctor's gray mare."
I wonder if you were to draw a picture of a horse and take it home to mother, if she would know whose horse it was.
Nearly every child has made a scrap book. It is such fun to cut pictures out of magazines and papers and paste them in a book. The Landseer children wanted to make a scrap book. Their father said they might make as many books as they wished, but he would not allow them to cut out pictures with the scissors. He said if they wanted pictures for their books they would have to make them.
We might not think that would be fun, but the Landseer boys did.
They drew the animals in the fields—horses, sheep, cattle, dogs, and goats. Their father often took them to the Zoological Gardens and they brought home pictures of lions and tigers and other animals which they saw there.
One day the boys were very much excited. Another boy told them a man had a lion and a big dog down on Fleet. They asked their father to take them to see the animals and he did so.
A baby lion had been caught in Africa, and had been given to a Newfoundland dog to raise. This good mother dog thought just as much of the lion baby as she did of her own puppies. It grew to be a big lion, much larger than the dog, but she was always kept with it.
Sometimes when Mr. Lion was not as good as his mother thought he should be, she would strike him with her paw, and then he would whine and cry. The Landseer boys and their father watched these animals a long time and made many pictures.
Soon after this Edwin was old enough to go to school. His sister was very proud of her little artist brother. He soon learned to read, but instead of trying to write he drew pictures of everything he saw. I suspect it was easier for him to draw a picture of a horse or a donkey than it was to spell these words.
One day he ran away from school. When the teacher found him he was drawing the picture of a dog that was playing in the street.
John Landseer was very proud of the drawings made by his little son. He saved all of them from the time he began to draw until he was a man. If you were to go today to the South Kensington Museum in London you would find them there. You could see how the boy improved in his drawing from the time when he made the picture of the old dog asleep, until he painted pictures which were worth thousands of dollars.
Edwin often went with his father to the shop where he worked. He would spend many hours watching him making the pictures on the steel plates and wood blocks.
The boy thought he would like to draw and make pictures that way. When he was eight years old his father let him try. He drew the head of a lion and of a tiger on a steel plate. He did his work better than many of the older men who worked in the shop.
The Landseer boys had many pets. In the back yard were the rabbits in their pens; the pigeons had houses built for them on the roof and by the attic windows, and there were always three or four dogs playing about the yard. And wherever there were any animals to be found in London there could be found these boys and their father with their pencils or paints making pictures.
When Edwin was about thirteen years old, he was walking along the streets of London. He saw a servant leading a large St. Bernard dog. This dog was more than six feet long, and was two feet seven inches high. It was so strong it could carry a load that weighed a hundred pounds.
The boy followed the dog to the home of its owner and asked him if he might paint the dog's picture. The man laughed at the boy but told him he might try. He did not think such a young boy could paint a picture that would be worth looking at. He was very much surprised and pleased when he saw it.
This is said to be the best picture of a dog that has ever been made by any artist. When a live dog was brought into the room where the picture stood, he ran toward it and began to bark, just as if he thought it was a real dog.
There is a place in London called the Royal Academy where artists take their best pictures. These pictures are placed upon the walls and many people go to see them. It is a great honor for an artist to be allowed to send one of his pictures to the Royal Academy and many artists work for years before they can make a picture that is thought good enough to be put there.
Edwin Landseer was only thirteen years old when he had two pictures placed in this famous gallery. One was the picture of a mule, the other a dog with a puppy. Both pleased the people very much.
This Royal Academy was not only a place to show pictures, but it was also a school, where people could study how to paint pictures. Not many students were allowed, however, and these were mostly men and women who knew a great deal about painting. The men who had charge of this school allowed Edwin Landseer to come to it when he was fourteen because his pictures were so good. He was a bright, manly boy, and worked very hard. The keeper always called him "his little dog boy," because he painted these animals so well.
Before this time artists had always made pictures of people or of houses and trees and fields. No one had ever thought of painting pictures of dogs or horses. But when people saw Edwin Landseer's dogs they thought them very beautiful. Rich people brought their pets to him to have their portraits painted. He had a room where the dog would sit while the artist painted his picture.
These pictures cost a great deal of money, and there were many poorer people who could not afford to have a picture painted, nor could they buy one of Landseer's pictures.
You remember that John Landseer knew how to make pictures on wooden blocks and steel plates, and that many copies of a picture could be printed from one of these blocks or plates.
When Mr. Landseer saw how many people wanted his son's pictures he and his son Thomas started a shop of their own. They made plates and printed the pictures of Edwin's dogs.
The pictures could be sold so cheap that everybody could afford to buy them. It was not long before nearly every home had at least one of Landseer's pictures in it.
By the time he was twenty years old Edwin Landseer was famous, and so many people bought his pictures or copies of them that both he and his father grew wealthy. Instead of being just a student at the Royal Academy he was made a member, and when he was thirty years old he was chosen to be one of those who had charge of it.
Now that he was rich, the artist bought a horse. When he was a boy he had drawn pictures of horses, now he painted his own horse and the horses of his friends. We know he could paint horses almost as well as dogs, for we have seen the picture called "Shoeing" in which is the sleek bay mare, a patient donkey, and a big dog.
We know that Mr. Landseer loved dogs and horses, and we are told they loved him. They were never afraid of him and always obeyed him. Strange dogs would come up to him on the street and put their heads against him in a friendly way.
One day some ladies called at the artist's home. When he came in one of them said "What have you been doing? you look tired." "Training some horses," he replied. "Where is your whip?" asked the lady. "Here it is," said Mr. Landseer, holding up a lump of sugar. He thought that horses learned more quickly if they were treated kindly.
One of the most famous of Landseer's early paintings was "The Cat's-Paw." The picture shows a large kitchen or ironing room. The maid had just gone out of the room, leaving some large ripe chestnuts roasting on the hot stove. A pet monkey has come into the room. He spies the chestnuts and wishes to have them to eat. He does not care to pick them up and burn his fingers, so he begins to look about for some way to get them off the stove.
In the clothes basket, puss and her kittens are taking a nap. The monkey, seeing Mrs. Puss, seizes her in three of his strong hands, while with the fourth he grasps her paw and uses it to pull the hot chestnuts off the stove.
Mr. Landseer liked to read books. He had read several by a man who lived in Scotland and whose name was Sir Walter Scott. One day not long after the picture of the "Cat's-Paw" was painted, Sir Walter Scott came to London to visit. He saw this picture and it pleased him so much that he went to see the young artist.
He invited him to come to Scotland and visit him. These two men became the best of friends and had many pleasant visits together.
It was in Scotland that Landseer saw so many deer and began to study and paint these animals. One day he and another man were hunting. Mr. Landseer was standing with his gun in his hand watching for a chance to shoot a deer. Suddenly one of them bounded into sight. But the artist did not shoot. He handed his gun to a servant, seized his pencil and paper and quickly drew a picture of this beautiful animal.
There are many sheep in Scotland and every shepherd has a dog to help him take care of his flock. Landseer often watched these faithful dogs who took such good care of the helpless sheep. In 1837 he painted a picture of one of these shepherd dogs. It is called "The Highland Shepherd's Chief Mourner."
It shows a room in a plain Scottish home. The shepherd has died and his coffin stands in the center of the room. Over it is thrown his plaid, and on the stool at the foot is his well-worn Bible and his spectacles. Leaning close against the coffin is the dog, with his head against the cover, which he has partly pulled off. Poor fellow, he misses his good master and shows his sorrow by his looks and his position.
The picture is a sad one, but we forget to be sad when we think of the love between the faithful dog and his good master.
In 1835, Landseer painted Dash, the favorite dog of Victoria, Duchess of Kent, afterwards Queen Victoria of England. After this the artist and this noble woman were great friends. He painted the pictures of many of her pets, as well as portraits of the Queen, her husband and her children. It is said that he painted over one hundred pictures for his royal friend.
Queen Victoria wanted to show that the artist was her friend and that she liked his pictures. So in 1850 she made him a knight. He was no longer called Mr. Landseer, but Sir Edwin Landseer.
For many years, the artist had lived in a beautiful home in St. John's Wood, just outside of London. Here he could roam the fields just as he did when he was a little boy. Here too, he had his pets just as he and his brothers had in their boyhood home. The great barn was his studio, and about it was a garden full of flowers. Here the last years of Sir Edwin Landseer's life were spent. He was often ill and in pain, but he kept at his work. His life ended October 1, 1873.