LA BORDE, MAXIMILIAN. 



LANDSEER, EDWIN. 



407 



LA BORDE, MAXIMILIAN, M. D., LL. D., an 

 eminent physician and scholar of South Caro- 

 lina, born at Edgefleld, S. 0., in 1804 ; died in 

 Columbia, S. C., November 6, 1873. He was 

 of French extraction, his father having been a 

 native of Bordeaux. He received his early 

 training at Edgefleld, and graduated from 

 South Carolina College, Columbia, in 1820. 

 He gave his attention at first to the study of 

 law, but, after being admitted to the bar, com- 

 menced the study of medicine, and graduated 

 M. D. from the South Carolina Medical Col- 

 lege in 1826. He practised his profession in 

 Lis native parish for thirteen years, being sev- 

 eral times during that period a representative 

 of Edgefield District in the State Legislature, 

 and in 1836-'38 editor of the Edgefield Adver- 

 tiser. In 1838 he was elected Secretary of 

 State. In 1842 he was chosen Professor of 

 Logic and Belles-Lettres in South Carolina Col- 

 lege, and in 1845 transferred to the chair of 

 Metaphysics. His lectures and teachings on 

 this subject were so able as to attract great 

 attention. In 1855 Prof. La Borde published a 

 work on physiology, which is used as a text-book 

 in Southern colleges and literary institutions, 

 and is much esteemed. In 1859 he published 

 a " History of the College of South Carolina, 

 with Sketches of its Presidents and Professors," 

 a work on which he had been long engaged. 

 He was also a frequent contributor to the 

 Southern Quarterly Review, and other literary 

 and scientific periodicals. He retained his 

 professorship till his death. 



LANDSEER, Sir EDWIX, R. A., an eminent 

 English painter, born in London, in 1802 ; died 

 in that city, October 1, 1873. He was the 

 youngest son of the late John Landseer, 

 A. R. A., one of the most eminent engravers of 

 Lis time. When Edwin was a child, his father 

 was in the habit of taking him out to Hamp- 

 stead Heath, to accustom him to sketch ani- 

 mals from life. He became a student of the 

 Academy in 1816, and, the same year, exhibited 

 some drawings and sketches, which attracted 

 attention, and gave great promise of future ex- 

 cellence. In 1819, his "Dogs Fighting" was 

 exhibited, and brought him very favorably be- 

 fore the public. His "Dogs of St. Gothard," 

 painted the same year, was very popular. For 

 more than forty years, every London exhibi- 

 tion witnessed his success. His greatest tri- 

 umphs were won in the painting of dogs, deer, 

 and lions, though his horses and cattle were in 

 some respects equal to those of any animal- 

 painter of modern times. He was never suc- 

 cessful in painting the human face, though his 

 great power in his pictures of animals lay in 

 the humanity that he infused into their every 

 look and act. Critics have indeed complained 

 that he made his brutes too human that they 



were really only men and women in animal 

 guise caricatures of beasts, which had the 

 human nature but slightly veiled in the animal 

 shape and form. Be this as it may, his ani- 

 mals, which in form and posture, in excellent 

 drawing, good color, and admirably-rendered 

 textnre of hide, or wool, or plumage, equal 

 to those of any other animal-painter of mod- 

 ern times, differ from all others in the high- 

 er character of their expression. As one 

 critic puts it, " his animals think, reason, and 

 talk ; those of others only act instinctively." 

 In his later years, Sir Edwin attempted large 

 drawings in chalk, which were very popular ; 

 he also essayed his hand in sculpture, the 

 " Stag at Bay," and the four lions in bronze, 

 for the Nelson column in Trafalgar Square, 

 being modeled by him. It is generally admit- 

 ted, however, that these attempts in the sculp- 

 tor's art were failures. In the latter years of 

 his life, he had done little to maintain his great 

 reputation ; the hand before so skillful seemed 

 to have lost its cunning, and he will be re- 

 membered rather by the wonderful pictures 

 of his prime than by those of his old age. We 

 have not room to mention all even of his most 

 celebrated pictures ; but the Sheepshanks col- 

 lection in the South Kensington Crystal Pal- 

 ace has " A Highland Breakfast ; " " The Dro- 

 ver's Departure ; " " The Dog and the Shad- 

 ow;" "A Fireside Party;" "There's no 

 Place like Home ;" "The Two Dogs;" "The 

 Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner " (a picture 

 to which Ruskin has paid a most eloquent 

 tribute of admiration); "A Jack in Office;" 

 " Tethered Rams ; " " Sancho Panza and Dap- 

 ple;" "The Angler's Guard;" "Suspense;" 

 " Comical Dogs ; " " Young Roebuck and 

 Rough Hounds;" "The Eagle's Nest;" 

 "War; " and "Peace." Among those not in 

 this collection, "Bolton Abbey in the Olden 

 Time ; " " Titania; " " Laying down the Law ; " 

 "The Return from Deer-Stalking;" "The 

 Illicit Whiskey-Still;" "Highland Music;" 

 "The Stag at Bay; " "The Random Shot; " 

 "Night;" "Morning;" "The Children of 

 the Mist;" "Saved;" "Highland Nurses;" 

 "Deer-Stalking;" and "Flood in the High- 

 lands," are the most famous. The last two 

 were chalk-drawings, and were very popular, 

 as were also " Doubtful Crumbs ; " "A Kind 

 Steer ; " " Windsor Park ; " " Squirrels crack- 

 ing Nuts; " and "Man proposes, but God dis- 

 poses." Sir Edwin was elected Royal Acade- 

 mician in 1827, and knighted in 1850. He 

 was elected president of th Royal Academy in 

 1886, but refused to accept the honor. Nearly 

 all his pictures have been engraved, some of 

 them by his father, and others by his brother 

 Thomas. He himself produced many etchings 

 which rank among the best of their kind. 



