The St. Bernard Dog 577 



written soon after the dog's arrival, for him to be still growing, and the photo- 

 graph may have been of some copy of the painting which had that legend 

 witli it. As to the 1835 engraving of a Landseer we cannot say what it is, 

 not having been able to find a copy in New York; but it would not surprise 

 us to find that it was our Leasome friend once more, only reduced slightly 

 in length, but not in height. In a portfolio of Thomas Landseer's animal 

 etchings the 1825 dog is given in an addition to what seems to have been a 

 first edition. This portfolio was issued in 1853, by Bohn of London, and as 

 both the Landseers were then alive we may accept the printed comments as 

 correct. This dog is Plate 30 and this is the statement regarding it: "The 

 drawing from which the present plate was engraved was made from a very 

 noble Alpine mastiff, which at that time, although not full-grown, was the 

 largest dog in England." The remark about not being full-grown makes 

 it sound very like the foregoing statement about the dog still growing. If 

 we are correct in our surmise, then we have a considerable reduction in 

 representations of the Alpine mastiff. 



If the supposirion that Landseer drew the Leasome Castle mastiff is 

 correct, then it is absolutely certain, precocious as he was as an animal de- 

 lineator, that he did not paint it at that time. He was only thirteen years 

 old, and to satisfy ourselves regarding his abilities at that age we made re- 

 search. In a very large volume devoted to Landseer and his work there are 

 many reproductions of his very earliest drawings, and one dated 1815 is a 

 mastiff type of dog, with the ears thrown slightly back, and is named " Sus- 

 picion." It is referred to in the text as showing an advancement in his 

 work. The dog is standing very much in the attitude of the dog in the 

 Thomas Landseer etching, but the face is turned more to the front. There 

 is one very noticeable fault in this drawing, and that is the putting the far 

 side forefoot on a level with and immediately behind the near one. The 

 boy had yet something to learn in posing, and could not at that time have 

 drawn the Leasome Castle dog as shown nor made the drawing which 

 his brother Thomas etched in 1825. Basing the argument on the authen- 

 ticity of the Twentieth Century Dog reproduction as being the Leasome 

 Castle dog, (and this is supported by Mr. Kostin) it must have been painted 

 either by Landseer or copied by some one from his drawing of which 

 Thomas made an etching. Of course if the Leasome Castle dog is an 

 erroneous claim of Mr. Kostin's this argument falls to the ground; but all 

 must admit that Landseer cannot be accused of plagiarism in his work. 



