![]() ![]() John Ruskin, for example, lamented the painting’s level of detail and pristine finish. ![]() Shoeing received a mixed response from critics when it was exhibited in London, perhaps owing to its evocation of seventeenth-century Dutch genre painting, which was unfashionable at the time. Bell provided a wealth of support from this point onwards, managing his financial affairs, negotiating with patrons and printmakers and allowing Landseer use of Old Betty. Landseer’s procrastination over commissions became increasingly common through his life, particularly in the wake of his nervous breakdown in 1840. By the time Landseer committed himself to the painting, however, years had elapsed and the two foals bred by Bell for the purpose of the picture had grown up. The painting was originally conceived in the 1830s as a portrait of Bell’s favourite horse, Old Betty, with her foal. Shoeing was commissioned by the artist’s long-time friend, Jacob Bell. More than half of his income in the 1840s came from copyright fees on engravings such as that made after Shoeing in 1848. Landseer captured the public’s imagination, becoming the most published artist of his time. Animal painting had enjoyed a gradual ascent in academic status since the late eighteenth century, benefiting from the work of George Stubbs, for example, some of whose anatomical horse drawings Landseer owned. Shoeing was exhibited in 1844, by which time Landseer had become one of Britain’s most popular painters, lauded for his portrayals of domestic animals and dramatic Highland hunting scenes. Landseer had shown a talent for depicting animals since childhood (see Tate N06180, a drawing of a dog he made aged 11), becoming affectionately known as the ‘little dog boy’ to fellow artist Henry Fuseli, who taught him at the Royal Academy schools. Portraits of animals enlivened with a narrative element were the artist’s specialty. Each animal’s gaze is directed towards the hardworking farrier, perhaps alert to the smell of the smouldering shoeing, or its repetitive tap, which offers an auditory counterpart to the singing blackbird in the cage above. The horse is elevated above all else in the composition, including man, who, bent double at her rear, works in her service. The path continues to a drooling bloodhound and donkey, their respective coarse fur and tufted mane contrasting with Betty’s sleek and shiny coat. A circular path of light moves across Betty’s powerful back and hind quarters, down to the farrier, whose work she patiently endures. ' Portraits of Dogs: From Gainsborough to Hockney' is showing at The Wallace Collection until 15th October 2023.Shoeing depicts the bay mare Old Betty in a composition that celebrates the horse’s merits and reveals Landseer’s skill as a painter of texture and light. However, it also seeks to show how all dog portraits have one thing in common, and that is their desire to celebrate the distinct relationship we have with our four-legged companions, along with those things that endear them to us – their intelligence and independence of spirit.Īlexander Collins, Assistant Curator of 'Portraits of Dogs: From Gainsborough to Hockney' at The Wallace Collection The Wallace Collection's exhibition looks to reveal its diversity and versatility – how it can do everything from conveying moral imagery to praising the athletic prowess of a working dog. Abandoned by human mourners, the dog remains a faithful companion – a touching parallel to the famous Greyfriars Bobby.Ĭanine portraiture, just like the dogs it depicts, comes in all shapes and sizes. In a deeply moving scene, the dog rests its heavy head on the coffin of its master, as if contemplating the thought of life alone. Landseer, again turning his expert hand to conveying emotion through dog allegory, has skilfully translated the human process of grieving to a collie in his 1837 work The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner, which is in the collection of the V&A. The close bonds we form with dogs in life mean that, following their deaths, we often experience overwhelming feelings of loss. ![]() Edwin Henry Landseer (1802–1873) Paintings Collection ![]()
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