A few notes of the prices said to have been obtained for some of the
artist’s works may not be unwelcome to the reader, especially as these
will show how greatly they increased in value as popular applause
justified his labours, and did honour to his achievements. We believe
the sums named are substantially correct, but, of course, cannot verify
every statement.
In 1831 Edwin Landseer conveyed the copyrights of “Lassie and Sheep,”
and “The Widow,” to John Burnet for 150 guineas. In 1850 Sir I. K.
Brunel gave £450 for “Scene from a Midsummer Night’s Dream.” It was sold
with his pictures, April 21, 1860, for £2800. Mr. Pender gave £3500 for
each of the pair of pictures by Sir Edwin, which were in his collection.
Mr. Coleman gave the artist £2500 for “Man proposes, God disposes;” Mr.
Huth gave him 1000 guineas for “A Piper and a Pair of Nutcrackers.” The
painter received £400 for “Bolton Abbey,” £100 for “A Cat’s Paw;” Mr.
Vernon gave him £1500 for “Peace” and “War.” For the copyright of these
the publisher of the engravings gave, it is said, £3000. £3600 is said
to have been paid for the copyright of “A Dialogue at Waterloo.” “The
waiting Horse” cost £2500. The four pictures at the Academy in 1846,
_i.e._ “Peace,” “War,” “The Stag at Bay,” and “Refreshment,” cost, it is
said, for copyright and engraving, at least £10,000. “The tired Reaper,”
which measures 14 × 10 inches, was sold in 1858 for 200 guineas. In
August, 1860, on the dispersion of Mr. Houldsworth’s collection at
Glasgow, “Uncle Tom and his Wife” sold for £800. In 1861 this picture
obtained no higher bidding than £590. “A Study of a white Horse,” given
by Landseer to Leslie, sold at the latter’s sale for 44 guineas; “A
Goat’s Head,” for 240 guineas. In April, 1860, “The Stone-breaker’s
Daughter” was sold, with the Redleaf Collection, for 1000 guineas; and a
“Portrait of Lord Alexander Russell” for 825 guineas. At Mr. Windus’s
sale, March, 1859, Lord Ward bought “A River Scene,” which has not been
exhibited, for 440 guineas; “The Sentinel” was sold for £126, in 1861.
The sale of Mr. Gillott’s Collection, April, 1872, comprised several
works by Landseer; the prices obtained for these are interesting to us;
for examples, take “A Landscape,” with a monk proceeding to a cell, an
illustration to one of Scott’s novels, £183; “A View in Scotland, with a
ruined Abbey,” £110; “Waiting for the Deer to rise,” £1412; “Mount St.
Bernard Dogs,” £1827; the “Pointers, To Ho!” (exhibited in 1821)
obtained the enormously disproportioned price of £2016. “The Otter
Hunt,” 1844, painted for Lord Aberdeen, was sold with Mr. Albert Grant’s
pictures, April 28, 1877, for £5932 (?).
Landseer’s “remaining works” were sold by Messrs. Christie, Manson, and
Woods, May 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15, 1874. On this occasion “Lady
Godiva’s Prayer,” 1866, sold for £3360.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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