64 Sin EDWIN LANDSEER, R.A. 



Down swoop'd the tyrants of the sea-girt caves, 

 Screaming for blood, and in their ancient holds 

 'Flutter'd the Volsces' of that tranquil reign." 



This is a large picture, and its size magnifies the horrors of the fearful conflict between 

 the feathered combatants; if that may be called a battle in which victory can never for 

 a moment be considered doubtful : it is nothing but a murderous onslaught by the 

 fierce birds of mountain and rock on the comparatively defenceless dwellers on lake and 

 silvery river. It has been remarked of this picture, that "it is certainly one of 

 Landseer's most brilliant thoughts, dramatized with amazing effect, and painted with a 

 master hand. The action and movement of the piece are magnificent, and the situation 

 is to the last degree thrilling. Perhaps the scene is rather over-redolent of horror ; the 

 massacre indeed of these noble birds must be accounted a deed almost too cruel and 

 terrible to be excused even in the fiction and licence usually permitted to the pictorial 

 arts. In technical qualities the picture partakes of the painter's merits and defects 

 alike ; his method of treatment has by this time all but degenerated into mannerism. 

 It must be conceded that great is the skill shown in composition, that the leading lines 

 are well-disposed, the masses capitally managed, and that, moreover, no circumstance 

 or detail has been omitted which might add to the desired consummation of pictorial 

 effect. Splendidly painted are the wings of the eagles, the black feet of the white 

 swans, and the entire work, from beginning to end, has been conducted with unrivalled 

 mastery. Still, we suppose the picture is altogether an impossibility in nature : the 

 whole thing looks artificial, as if got up for display and sensation." Without 

 attempting to explain the motives which might have tempted the artist to paint a 

 picture of a character so repugnant to humanity, it unquestionably manifests the 

 characteristics of a sensational work. In colour, too, it is not agreeable ; and what it 

 shows of this quality is poor and opaque. 



" The Ptarmigan Hill," the fourth picture exhibited in that year, contrasts most 

 favourably, both in subject and style of execution, with that just noticed ; here peace 

 succeeds to war, and serenity to tempest. Birds and landscape are painted in a 

 manner worthy of Landseer's best epoch. 



To the Academy exhibition of 1870 he sent five works, of which the first in 

 the order of the catalogue was " Voltigeur : winner of the Derby and St. Leger, 

 1850. The property of the Earl of Zetland." To the title was added, as a 

 motto descriptive of the picture, "A Cat may look at a King;" and so a cat 

 is introduced on the scene, meditating, it may be presumed, on the points and 

 beauty of the fleet racer — a noble animal, in every way represented to the life. 

 Landseer never painted a horse more truthfully and attractively than this portrait of 

 Voltigeur. In another room hung a large canvas entitled " Queen Victoria meeting 

 the Prince Consort on his return from Deer-stalking in 1850." When this picture 



