Part 5
His life was, of course, a very busy one, filled with commissions which came much more rapidly than he could execute them. His house was enlarged as his means permitted, and became a delightful resort for many favored guests. The painter was of a frank nature, genial and kindly among his friends, witty in conversation, and a clever mimic. An invitation to one of his parties was a privilege. Many were the distinguished patrons who visited his studio; even the royal carriages were sometimes seen standing at the door of Maida Villa.
His work was duly rewarded with the proper honors. At the age of twenty-eight, the painter was elected to membership in the Royal Academy, and twenty years later he was knighted. Thereafter he was known as Sir Edwin Landseer, probably the most popular painter of his day.
He is described as a man of heavy figure, six feet in height, with a weather-beaten countenance. He used to wear a sober gray tweed suit, and had the general appearance of an English country gentleman. His movements were quick and energetic.
Our portrait shows him at the age of sixty-two, when his beard was white. His face is attractive because of the kindly expression, but it is by no means handsome. The redeeming feature is the high broad forehead, the sign of the fine poetic temperament of which so many of his works are proof.
It was characteristic of Landseer to paint his portrait with his dogs. Neither the man nor his art can be separated from the animal to which he devoted his best gifts. The dogs give the title to the picture, and with the genial humor natural to the painter, he represents himself as the subject of their criticism. Holding his sketch-book across his knees, he appears to be making a pencil study of some dog subject, while over each shoulder peers the grave face of a canine "Connoisseur." The dog at the painter's right seems to express approval, while his more critical comrade on the other side reserves judgment till the picture is completed.
It would appear that Landseer's dog pictures were faithful enough to satisfy the judgment of the originals. "We cannot help believing," writes an admiring critic,[22] "that the manner in which Landseer drew the forms and expressed the character of the canine race would have been rewarded with the gratitude, if not the full satisfaction of such a critic.... On the whole, seeing that he was but a man [the Connoisseurs] must, we fancy, have allowed that he was a good artist, a fair judge of character, and meant kindly by them."
[Footnote 22: Cosmo Monkhouse.]
The honors bestowed upon Landseer culminated at the time of his death in the magnificent funeral ceremonies attending his burial at St. Paul's Church, London. His body was laid near those of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Turner, Fuseli, and other famous English painters. In the memorial sermon following the funeral, the painter's character was fittingly summed up in a few lines from Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner."
"He prayeth well who loveth well Both man and bird and beast,
"He prayeth best who loveth best All things, both great and small, For the dear God who loveth us He made and loveth all."
The Riverside Press
_Electrotyped and printed by H. O. Houghton & Co._
_Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._
AUTHORS' PORTRAITS
FOR SCHOOL USE
_Sample of the portraits in "Masterpieces of American Literature" and "Masterpieces of British Literature," described on the second page of this circular._
[Illustration: Oliver Wendell Holmes.]
PORTRAITS OF AUTHORS
AND PICTURES OF THEIR HOMES
_FOR THE USE OF PUPILS IN THE STUDY OF LITERATURE_
We have received so many calls for portraits of authors and pictures of their homes suitable for class and note-book use in the study of reading and literature, that we have decided to issue separately the twenty-nine portraits contained in "Masterpieces of American Literature" and "Masterpieces of British Literature," and the homes of eight American authors as shown in the Appendix to the _newly revised_ edition of "Richardson's Primer of American Literature."
PORTRAITS
_AMERICAN._
BRYANT. HAWTHORNE. O'REILLY. EMERSON. HOLMES. THOREAU. EVERETT. IRVING. WEBSTER. FRANKLIN. LONGFELLOW. WHITTIER. LOWELL.
_BRITISH._
ADDISON. COLERIDGE. MACAULAY. BACON. COWPER. MILTON. BROWN. DICKENS. RUSKIN. BURNS. GOLDSMITH. TENNYSON. BYRON. GRAY. WORDSWORTH. LAMB.
HOMES OF AUTHORS
BRYANT. HOLMES. LOWELL. EMERSON. LONGFELLOW. STOWE. HAWTHORNE. WHITTIER.
_Sold only in lots of ten or more, assorted as desired._
Ten, assorted, postpaid, 20 cents.
Each additional one in the same package, 1 cent.
In lots of 100 or more, assorted, 1 cent each, postpaid.
_For mutual convenience please send a remittance with each order. Postage stamps taken._
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
4 PARK STREET, BOSTON; 11 EAST 17TH STREET, NEW YORK; 378-388 WABASH AVENUE, CHICAGO.
ORNAMENTS FOR SCHOOL-ROOMS
_THE ATLANTIC LIFE-SIZE PORTRAITS_
Of Whittier, Lowell, Emerson, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Holmes, Bryant. Size, 24 by 30 inches. Lithographs, $1.00, _net_, each, postpaid. Teachers' price, 85 cents, _net_, each, postpaid.
_MASTERPIECES PORTRAITS._
For descriptions and prices see other pages of this circular.
_HOMES OF AMERICAN AUTHORS._
For descriptions and prices see other pages of this circular.
_LONGFELLOW'S RESIDENCE._
A colored lithograph of the historic mansion ("Washington's Headquarters") at Cambridge, in which Mr. Longfellow lived for forty years. Size, 12 by 16 inches. Price, 50 cents, _net_, postpaid.
_FINE STEEL PORTRAITS_
(The size of cabinet photographs) of over ninety of the most celebrated American and European Authors. The 25-cent portraits and the 75-cent portraits are printed on paper measuring 9 by 12 inches, and the $1.00 portraits 11 by 14 inches. _A list with prices to teachers may be had on application._
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.
4 PARK STREET, BOSTON; 11 EAST 17TH STREET, NEW YORK: 378-388 WABASH AVENUE, CHICAGO.
AUTHORS' HOMES, FOR SCHOOL USE.
_Sample of the pictures of author's homes in the newly revised edition of Richardson's Primer of American Literature, described on the second page of this circular._
[Illustration: HOLMES'S BIRTHPLACE. _The Gambrel Roofed House, Cambridge._]