Thomas Landseer - Alexander and Diogenes

Thomas Landseer (1795 – 20 January 1880) was a British artist best known for his

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

s and

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other type ...

s, particularly those of paintings by his youngest brother

Edwin Landseer Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (7 March 1802 – 1 October 1873) was an English painter and sculptor, well known for his paintings of animals – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. His best-known work is the lion sculptures at the base of Nelso ...

Life

Landseer was born in London, the eldest of the fourteen children of actress Jane Potts and engraver John Landseer. Seven of the children survived to adulthood and all became artists; his younger brothers were painters and later Royal Academicians Charles Landseer and

. Like his father, Thomas was deaf. He was the only sibling to marry, his wife's name was Belinda. His son George Landseer became a portrait and landscape painter. Like his siblings, Landseer was taught artistic techniques by his father. He then studied under painter

Benjamin Robert Haydon Benjamin Robert Haydon (; 26 January 178622 June 1846) was a British painter who specialised in grand historical pictures, although he also painted a few contemporary subjects and portraits. His commercial success was damaged by his often tactle ...

alongside his brother Charles and William Bewick. He began etching aged 14, copying his precocious brother's drawings. Thomas continued to make etched copies of Edwin's works in later life, including '' Dignity and Impudence'' (1841), '' Alexander and Diogenes'' (1852), '' The Monarch of the Glen'' (1852) and, his last work, ''The Font'' (1875). His soft-ground etchings complimented his brother's animal paintings, and sales of the popular prints (retailing for between 3 and 10

guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...

) contributed to his brother's fame and fortune. He assisted his brother with giving art lessons to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

and

Prince Albert Prince Albert most commonly refers to: *Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria *Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco Prince Albert may also refer to: Royalty * Alb ...

. Landseer produced satirical etchings of monkeys in human clothing for ''Monkeyana, or, Men in Miniature'' (1827), and dedicated his ''Characteristic Sketches of Animals'' (1832) to the Zoological Society. He also produced illustrations for

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...

's '' Devil's Walk'' (1831). He also exhibited paintings at the

British Institution The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it ...

and the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

. He was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1867 for his etchings. He edited a biography of William Bewick published in 1871. He died at 11 Grove End Road, St. John's Wood, on 20 January 1880. He was buried at

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in North London, England, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for so ...

References

;Bibliography * *

External links

Portraits
at the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

* *
Profile on Royal Academy of Arts Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Landser, Thomas 1790s births 1880 deaths English engravers Associates of the Royal Academy Burials at Highgate Cemetery