The Old Shepherd' s Chief Mourner, 1837, by Sir Edwin Landseer. Oil on panel, 18 x 24 in. ( 45.8 x 61 cm). Exhibited at Royal Academy, 1837, no 112. John Sheepshanks Bequest to the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1857. Reviewed in the Athenaeum no. 497, 6 May 1837, p. 330. (see Ormond, Sir Edwin Landseer pp.110-111). Ruskin would criticise the picture later (see Ruskin and Landseer), but emphasises that he did not wish to:
withdraw the praise I have given, and shall always be willing to give, to pictures, such as the Shepherd's Chief Mourner, and many others, in which the soul, if we may call it so, of animals, has been explained to us in modes hitherto unfelt and unexampled.
But Mr. Landseer is much more a natural historian than a painter, and the power of his works depends more on his knowledge and love of animals-- on his understanding of their minds and ways--on his unerring notice of memory of their gestures and expressions, than on artistical or technical excellence ( Works, 4.302).
Sir Edwin Landseer 1803-1873
Old Shepherd's Chief-mourner by 1837
Oil on panel, 45.8x61cm
Collection: Victoria & Albert Museum, London
For a reproduction of this artistic work, please consult: Ormond, Richard, Sir Edwin Landseer, (Thames & Hudson, 1981), p.110