52 ANIMAL PAINTERS 



Polito's wild beasts at Exeter Change and the 

 Royal Academy Schools." In this connection we 

 note that the Academy Exhibition of 1815 included 

 his portrait as " A Cricketer," painted by Master 

 George Hayter, who ultimately became a celebrated 

 portrait painter and was knighted in 1842. 



Until he joined the schools of the Royal Academy 

 his studies had been made from nature and, as a 

 child, from other pictures under his father's guid- 

 ance. In 1 81 7 he was introduced to Benjamin 

 Haydon, an artist who stood high in his profession 

 and who, had he not quarrelled with the Royal 

 Academy, would have received the highest distinc- 

 tion that body is able to bestow. Haydon super- 

 intended Edwin Landseer's work, though the youth 

 did not become his pupil. It was upon Haydon's 

 advice that he turned his attention to dissection and 

 anatomy : in pursuance of his mentor's suggestions 

 he procured the carcase of a lion which had died 

 in one of the menageries, and made studies of the 

 bones and muscular tissues. The care with which 

 he pursued his investigations becomes evident in 

 his subsequent drawings of lions. In 1817 his 

 picture of " A Sleeping Dog," at the exhibition of the 

 Society of Painters in Oil and Water Colours (now 

 the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours), 

 attracted notice. Between the years 18 16 and 

 1820 inclusive he sent nine pictures in oils, all 

 canine studies, to the exhibitions of this Society. 



