so Sm EDWIN LAND SEER, R.A. 



is the point of the picture. The late Mr. E, Bicknell is reported to have paid the artist 

 ;^300 for this work; but when his collection was sold, in 1863, the competition was 

 so great that it realised the large sum of 2,300 guineas, Mr. Wells being the 

 purchaser. 



The second picture of the year 1859 had for its title, " Bran will never put another 

 stag to bay; and Oscar will no mak' out by himself. The deer will do fine yet!" 

 These words are presumed to be spoken by a Highland deer-stalker, on seeing one 

 of his dogs killed in the lake by a stag which has taken to the water ; and another 

 dog likely to meet with a similar fate. It is a large canvas, but the subject is not an 

 agreeable one; and although there is great spirit in the action of the brave stag, 

 and in that of his equally courageous antagonist, which is preparing to seize the former 

 — both animals fierce and resolute, — ^yet the picture is less satisfactorily painted than 

 many other of the artist's works of this period. 



" The Prize Calf" comes next in the list : a smaller canvas than either of the others ; 

 but a remarkably cheerful and well-painted picture. A fine calf, which appears to have 

 had a prize awarded, at some cattle-show, to its owner, is being led over the stepping- 

 stones of a Highland burn by a buxom yet pretty lass, " dressed with an ingenuity most 

 valuable in pictorial composition ; as, with the exception of the petticoat, to none of the 

 other garments can a name be given. There is something pleasantly original in the 

 treatment of the idea." When exhibited, the picture seemed to be unfinished, and 

 before it passed into the hands of its purchaser, the late Mr. E. Bicknell, it must have 

 been worked upon ; for when it was seen again at the sale of that gentleman's collec- 

 tion, it certainly bore evidence of additional labour having been bestowed on it. Mr. 

 Bicknell paid 400 guineas for " The Prize Calf; " after his death it was knocked down 

 to Mr. H. Wallis, for the extravagant sum of 1,800 guineas. The picture got into 

 the possession of Mr. Duncan Fletcher; and when his collection was sold, "The 

 Prize Calf" realised only 1,370 guineas, for which sum Mr. Agnew bought it: even 

 this was a large price to pay for a work of its class and quality. 



"A Kind Star," the affected title given to the fourth subject Landseer exhibited, 

 affords no kind of clue to the composition — a wounded deer lying on the bank of a 

 lake, watched over by another, presumed to be the " kind star." 



Some of his pictures changed owners during the year 1859 in the sale-rooms of 

 Messrs. Christie and Manson. A small canvas, " The Dead Doe," sold for 165 

 guineas; "Highlander and his Daughter," with a white horse and dogs, all on the 

 bank of a lake, was sold with the collection of the late Hon. Edmund Phipps for 815 

 guineas, and was reported to have been bought for the late Marquis of Hertford. 

 " Count D'Orsay's Dog," with a cat and kitten, also part of the same collection, sold 

 ^o"" 505 guineas. I find no record of these pictures having ever been exhibited, 

 except in the sale-rooms. 



