Landseer, Sir Edwin Henry 1802-73
English animal painter

Born in London, he was trained by his father, the engraver John Landseer (1769-1852), to sketch animals from life, and he began exhibiting at the Royal Academy when only 13 years old. His animal pieces were generally made subservient to some sentiment or idea, but did not lose their correctness and force of draughtsmanship. The scene of several fine pictures is laid in the Scottish Highlands, which he first visited in 1824. His Monarch of the Glen was exhibited in 1851, and the bronze lions at the foot of Nelson's Monument in Trafalgar Square were modelled by him (1859-66). He was buried in St Paul's Cathedral. Most of Landseer's pictures are well known from the excellent engravings of them by his elder brother Thomas (1796-1880).

Bibliography: Ian B Hill, Landseer (1973)