DISCOVERY

SIR EDWIN H. LANDSEER (1802-1873)

SAFE IN THE FOREST, circa 1835-39

Oil on canvas

30 x 24 inches

Not signed, inscribed, or titled

Consulting Scholar

 Angus Trumble, Senior Curator of Paintings and Sculpture, Yale Center for British Art: offered written support of Fred R. Kline's Landseer attribution. 

Publication

Fred R. Kline Gallery : www.klinegallery.com

Exhibitions

Fred R. Kline Gallery, “Sir Edwin Landseer, Safe in the Forest: A New Discovery”, April-May 2009 (Exhibition Only), Santa Fe, NM

Provenance

Probably Estate of Sir Edwin Landseer

London art market, first half 20th century, as unknown artist

Private Collection & Estate, as unknown artist

Art Market, as unknown artist

Fred R. Kline Gallery, Santa Fe, NM [first attributed by Fred R. Kline to Landseer)

Private Collection

Note

The deer subject suggests a Woburn Park exotic species, probably a young Russian red deer as depicted in Deer in Coldbath Fields, Woburn Park ( 1835-39 ), a commission by the 6th Duke of Bedford [ Exh. London R.A. 1839 as Corsican, Russian, and fallow deer ], last noted in the collection of The Marquess of Tavistock.

In an 1835 letter from Bedford to Landseer discussing Deer in Coldbath Fields, Bedford also mentions Landseer’s offer to finish the “Corsican" deer. [Ref: R. Ormond ed., “Sir Edwin Landseer”, exh. cat. 1982, Phil.MA-TATE, p.167, #118 illus.] In this regard, Landseer possibly chose to depict the Russian red deer as well as the Corsican deer, or instead of, and in all likelihood it was not sent to Bedford and remained in the artist’s inventory and estate. 

Not long after painting "Safe in the Forest", Landseer generally portrayed deer with less sentimentality and as a hunted species in Scotland landscapes, a more commercially popular subject.  While the deer hunt paintings met with success, the subject nevertheless conflicted with Landseer's private sentiments which were against violence to wild creatures. 

Brief Biography

Sir Edwin (Henry) Landseer

Born London March 7, 1802, died London October 1, 1873.

In Victorian England, Sir Edwin Landseer’s fame was widespread and his success and popularity made his name a household word among a broad public following, even enduring a long period of critical neglect.  However, Landseer remained one of the most highly respected British painters of the 19th century and his works commanded high prices from collectors, the most eminent of whom was Queen Victoria who commissioned a large number of his works including genre paintings, portraits, and conversation pieces of the royal family and customarily of the royal dogs as well.  

Animals were the main subject of Landseer’s art—and with irony, humor and bold invention, he invested them with human characteristics and human behavior.  Landseer’s animals possess all the strengths and weaknesses of character associated with humanity and are usually presented within a purely naturalistic or story-telling context that reveals their particular personalities which is often contrasted with their interaction with people. His favorite animal subjects included dogs and monkeys, portraying them in primarily domestic settings, and deer hunting scenes in Scotland. Despite his great skills as a painter of animals and his brilliant renderings of their anatomy, his tendency toward sentimentality and moralizing in his animal narratives—those very qualities which delighted the Victorian public—caused his reputation to dim as that fashion lost its appeal among the critical art establishment and as the Victorian era faded . 

Toward the end of the 20th century, Landseer’s artistic fortunes were revived with the1982 retrospective exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (the first in the United States) and at the Tate Gallery in London, both curated by Richard Ormond.  Once again the appeal of his paintings began to bring high prices from collectors, notably $2 million at auction in 2003 and many prices at close to $1 million in the 1980s and 1990s.  Among Landseer’s most famous and enduring works are “The Monarch of the Glen” depicting a robust stag of the Scottish Highlands and the sculptural “Lions of Trafalgar Square” which are considered icons of the British Empire.

Private Collection

By appointment

SOLDSOLD