50 ANIMAL PAINTERS 



vided subjects for his pencil. His first known 

 essay in the art of etching was made upon a draw- 

 ing of his own, executed in 1809, the " Heads of 

 a Lion and Tiger." The plate was the joint work 

 of himself and his brother Thomas ; Edwin under- 

 taking the lion's head and Thomas that of the 

 tiger. 



Among the more noteworthy of his early works 

 mention must be made of " The Brown Mastiff," 

 painted at the age of ten and sold for 70 guineas 

 at Sir John Swinburne's sale in 1861 ; another 

 drawing, that of the head and tail of a very 

 large and handsome male Persian cat belonging to 

 Miss Finch of Maiden, in Essex, must have been 

 made about the same time, as a beautiful engraving 

 from it appears in the second edition of Daniel's 

 Rural Sports, which was published in 181 2. 



This latter was drawn by the boy when staying 

 at Beleigh Grange, the residence of Mr. W. H. 

 Simpson, near Maiden. Edwin Landseer's pleasant 

 disposition made him numerous friends, and in Mr. 

 Simpson's house he found a second home : it will 

 be remarked that the first three pictures exhibited 

 at the Royal Academy by Edwin Landseer were 

 portraits of animals belonging to this kind friend 

 of his boyhood. In 18 15, when thirteen years of 

 age, he showed the " Portrait of a Mule, the pro- 

 perty of W. H. Simpson, Esq., of Beleigh Grange, 



