The Strand Magazine, Vol. 01, No. 04 (April 1891) — John Shaqi
The Strand Magazine, Vol. 01, No. 04 (April 1891)Various
General
The Strand Magazine, Vol. 01, No. 04 (April 1891)
Various
English literature -- Periodicals; Short stories, English -- Periodicals
"Lion"--a picture he painted for Mr. W. H. Merle for £50--has its story
to tell. Landseer particularly wished to see the dog--Lion--excited.
There chanced to be in the house a live mouse in a trap. The mouse
was let loose, Lion gave chase, and the next instant the mouse had
disappeared. There was no accounting for such a rapid exit, when
somebody suggested that possibly Lion had swallowed it. And such was
the fact; the poor little mouse had found safety in the dog's huge
jowls. Immediately Lion's lips were opened the tiny creature jumped out
uninjured and made good its escape.
Lion, being a particularly powerful dog, was not easy to play tricks
with. On one occasion whilst he was walking along the bank of a canal,
a passing bargeman began to poke him with his oar. With a sudden rush
and a jerk, Lion seized the oar, and lifted his tormentor into the
water. It is interesting to note that Lion's portrait was despatched in
a heavy case to Paris, just at the time of the Revolution, and narrowly
escaped being used as a barricade.
Here is another anecdote of one of Landseer's pictures. "Beauty's Bath"
was a portrait of Miss Eliza Peel, daughter of Sir Robert Peel, in
which she is shown with a pretty little pet poodle, named Fido, in her
arms. At the time the picture was engraved and about to be issued to
the public, Sir Robert was not on the best of terms with the populace.
This the publisher knew, and saw that, if he issued the work as "a
portrait of Miss Peel," it would ruin the sale. Accordingly, he gave it
this very taking title, by which it has ever since been known.
One day Sir Robert met the publisher and demanded why the title had
been changed. He was assured that "Beauty's Bath" was most appropriate.
"Oh! yes, that's all right," said Sir Robert. "I've no objection to
that. Only," he continued thoughtfully, evidently thinking of the pet
poodle and his charming daughter, "which do you intend for the beauty?"
"Well," replied the publisher merrily, "you pay your money and you take
your choice!"
[Illustration: HUNTSMAN AND HOUNDS.]
Landseer loved to have his artistic joke. This is excellently seen in
the two sketches which we reproduce. "Huntsman and Hounds" is a little
pen-and-ink drawing done for Miss Wardrop at the age of thirty-four.
Miss Wardrop, herself, was fond of the pencil and brush, and was
particularly partial to animals. She found no small difficulty in
drawing accurately a horse's hoofs. One day she went to Landseer and
told him frankly of her non-success, at the same time asking him to
give her a hint as to the best way of drawing them correctly. The
artist good-humouredly complied with her request, and showed her that
it was by no means necessary to depict them at all. This he did by
hiding the horse's hoofs in a wealth of grass, as shown in the sketch.
[Illustration: "THE EXPECTANT DOG."]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account