Book 4 — HIGHLAND SHEPHERD'S CHIEF MOURNER

Questions to arouse interest. What do you see in this picture? For whom is the dog grieving? What makes you think the shepherd may have been an old man? a religious man? a lonely man? Is there anything in the picture that would suggest the country in which he lived? What is there in the picture to suggest the time of the year? the occupation of the man? What kind of dog is this? Who painted the picture? Tell something about his life. Do you like this picture? How does it make you feel?

Original Picture: South Kensington Museum, London. Artist: Sir Edwin Landseer (lănd´´sēr). Birthplace: London, England. Dates: Born, 1802; died, 1873.

The story of the picture. Here we are looking into the interior of a highland shepherd's hut. Our eyes are immediately attracted to the center of the room, where we see the coffin of the shepherd covered with a blanket against which his dog keeps solitary watch. A well-worn Bible and a pair of glasses on the stool near by, the hat, the cane, all suggest something of the life and age of the shepherd. We are told that he was a very old man who had lived all his life among the hills of Scotland. For the last few years, at least, he had lived here alone except for the companionship of his faithful dog and his sheep.

The good old dog could tell you all about it. How, early in the morning, he would go with his master to drive the sheep to the best grazing ground, where all day long they guarded and watched them, the man and the dog sharing their noonday lunch of coarse bread. And why did they need to watch the sheep so carefully? There were a great many eagles whose nests were high up in the giant oak trees or up in some rocky cliff far away, and they came flying over the hills looking for food. Woe to the sheep if their master was not near to care for them, for then an eagle would swoop down upon his choice and carry it away to his nest. Then, too, there may have been wild animals prowling about, and the sheep must be protected from them. The dog and his master also had to keep watch lest some lamb stray away from the flock and get lost.

In the evening the dog helped his master drive the sheep to shelter in the great sheds where they were kept safe all night. Then up the hill they would climb to their home, where the shepherd prepared the simple evening meal for himself and his dog. Now what could they do after supper? It was too far for the old man to go to the distant village, and no one was likely to come in to see them. No doubt, too, he was very tired, and ready to go to bed very early. You know how sleepy you are after you have been out in the fields all day long. But first he read a little in his Bible; and when the dog saw his master take up the book and put on his spectacles, he probably stretched out on the floor and kept very still.

As time went on, the old man became more feeble and the dog worked all the harder to save his master's strength. It may be that toward the last the dog did almost all the work of caring for the sheep. Then, one morning, the old shepherd did not wake up. Even the tugging and sharp barks of his faithful friend failed to arouse him. It may be that the dog's barks brought some passing drovers to the door.

In the picture the dog presses close to the coffin. His clinging paws have dragged the blanket to the floor. His eyes seem full of tears of hopeless grief, as if he understood his master could not come back. He must have kept that same rigid and sorrowful position since the men left. Some green branches placed upon the coffin have fallen to the floor because of the dog's first frantic tugging at the blanket. The shepherd must have led a lonely life indeed to have no one but his faithful dog to watch beside him. His hat and cane lie where he left them, and all is very quiet.

In another picture Landseer painted a dog lying on the ground over the grave where his master lies buried. We can easily imagine that this dog will follow his master to his last resting place and that he, too, will act as sentinel over the grave of the one he loves so dearly. Landseer wanted to make us feel how good and faithful a friend a dog is.

Questions to help the pupil understand the picture. Whose home was this? In what country did he live? Tell about his life among the hills. Who helped him care for the sheep? Why must they be cared for? Where did they stay at night? What could the old man do in the evening? When he became feeble, who did nearly all the work of caring for the sheep? When the master did not wake up what did the dog probably do? Why have the branches fallen from the coffin? Why do you suppose there is no one else in the room?

The story of the artist. Sir Edwin Landseer's grandfather was a jeweler and his father also learned that trade. The jewelers of that day were very often asked to engrave the copper plates that were used in printing pictures. Sir Edwin's father soon decided that he would rather engrave pictures than sell jewels, and he became a very skillful engraver.

At that time few people realized what an art it was to be able to cut a picture in copper so that a great many copies of it could be made from one plate. They did not even consider it an art as we do, and so engravers were not allowed to exhibit at the Royal Academy and were given no honors at all. Edwin's father thought this was not right, and gave several lectures in defense of the art. He said that engraving is a kind of "sculpture performed by incision." His talks were of no avail at the time, but within a year after his death the engravers received the recognition due them.

His eldest son, Thomas, also became famous as an engraver, and to him we are indebted for so many fine prints of Sir Edwin Landseer's paintings. Thomas also made an engraving of the "Horse Fair" for Rosa Bonheur. Few can afford to own the paintings, but the prints come within the means of all of us.

Edwin's father taught him to draw, and even when Edwin was only five years old he could draw remarkably well. Edwin had three sisters and two brothers. They lived in the country, and often the father went with his children for a walk through the fields. There were two very large fields separated by a fence over which was built an old-fashioned stile with several steps. The fence was built high so the sheep and cows in the fields could not jump over. One day Edwin stopped at the stile to look at the cows and asked his father to show him how to draw them. His father then gave Edwin his first lesson in drawing a cow. After this Edwin came nearly every day to these fields and his father called them "Edwin's studio."

When he was only thirteen years old, two of his pictures were exhibited at the Royal Academy. One was a portrait of a mule, and the other was of a dog and puppies. Edwin painted from real life always, not caring to make copies from the work of others. All the sketches he made when he was a little boy were kept carefully by his father, and now if you go to England you may see them in the South Kensington Museum in London.

Landseer was only sixteen years old when he exhibited his wonderful picture "Fighting Dogs Getting Wind." A very rich man whose praise meant a great deal bought the picture, and the young artist's success was assured.

It was about this time, too, that he painted an old white horse in the stable of another wealthy man. After the picture was finished and ready to deliver, it suddenly disappeared. A diligent search was made for it, but it was not found until twenty-four years afterwards. A servant had stolen it and hidden it in a hayloft. He had been afraid to sell it or even to keep it in his home, for no one would have failed to recognize the great artist's work.

For many years Landseer lived and painted in his father's house in a poor little room without even a carpet. The only furniture, we are told, were three cheap chairs and an easel. Later he had a fine studio not far from Regent's Park. Here was a small house with a garden and a barn. The barn was made over into a studio. Here so many people brought their pets for him to paint that he had to keep a list, and each was obliged to wait his turn. But Sir Edwin was not a very good business man, so he left all his affairs to his father, who sold his pictures for him and kept his accounts.

Landseer made a special study of lions, too. A lion died at the park menagerie and he dissected its body and studied and drew every part. He painted many pictures of lions. He also modeled the great lions at the base of the Nelson Monument in Trafalgar Square, London.

Although Landseer painted so many wild animals, birds, and hunting scenes, he did not care to shoot animals. His weapons were his pencil and sketch book. Sometimes he hired guides to take him into the wildest parts of the country in search of game. But he quite disgusted the guides when, a great deer bounding toward him, he would merely make a sketch of it in his book.

Many of Landseer's paintings are of scenes in Scotland, as is this one, "Highland Shepherd's Chief Mourner." When Sir Edwin Landseer went to visit Scotland one of his fellow travelers was Sir Walter Scott, the great novelist. The two became close friends. Sir Walter Scott tells us: "Landseer's dogs were the most magnificent things I ever saw, leaping and bounding and grinning all over the canvas." Landseer painted Sir Walter Scott's dog "Maida Vale" many times, and he named his studio for the dog.

At twenty-four Landseer became an associate of the Royal Academy, which was an unusual honor for so young a man.

In 1850 the honor of knighthood was conferred upon him.

This story is told of him at a social gathering in the home of a well-known leader of society in London. The company had been talking about skill with the hands, when some one remarked that no one had ever been found who could draw two things at once. "Oh, I can do that," said Landseer; "lend me two pencils and I will show you." Quickly he drew the head of a horse with one hand while with the other he drew a stag's head and antlers. Both sketches were so good that they might well have been drawn with the same hand and with much more study.

Sir Edwin Landseer felt that animals understand, feel, and reason just like people, so he painted them as happy, sad, gay, dignified, frivolous, rich, poor, and in all ways just like human beings. This appealed to the people, and he became very popular.

Sir Edwin did and said all he could against the custom of "cropping" the ears of dogs. He said that nature intended to protect the ears of dogs that "dig in the dirt," and man should not interfere. People paid attention to what he said, and the custom lost favor.

Landseer died in London in 1873 at the age of seventy-one. A tablet placed to his memory in the notch of one of the windows at Westminster Abbey has a medallion portrait of him at the top, and below this, carved in light relief, is a copy of one of his most famous paintings, "The Highland Shepherd's Chief Mourner."

Questions about the artist. Tell about Sir Edwin Landseer's father. What did he do? Why were engravers not allowed to exhibit their work? What did Edwin's father do to defend his art? What did Edwin's brother, Thomas, accomplish? Why are we so indebted to him? Who taught Edwin how to draw? Tell about his brothers and their walks in the fields. What animal did Edwin draw first? Where was "Edwin's studio"? Which two of his pictures were exhibited when he was only thirteen years old? What became of the sketches he made when he was a boy? Tell about his two studios. Tell about his picture of the old white horse. With whom did Sir Edwin Landseer travel through Scotland? What did Sir Walter Scott say about Landseer's dogs? How did Landseer happen to name his studio "Maida Vale"? What weapons did Sir Edwin use when he hunted? Why did he not shoot the animals? Tell about his drawing with both hands. In what ways are animals like people according to Landseer's judgment?