Mounting Guard (1828) by Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-73). Source: “Studies and Sketches by Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A.” (1875): 322. “Lent by C. W. Mansel Lewis, Esq., Stradley , Llanelly.” [Click on image to enlarge it.] Formatting and text by George P. Landow. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Hathi Trust and the University of Michigan and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document, or cite it in a print one.]
Commentary in the Art-Journal
The next illustration, — we have given it the special title of ‘Mounting Guard,’ — is called in the catalogue to which reference has just been made, ‘A Dead Stag and Rough Hound, Invernessshire.’ The original sketch, from which our engraving is copied, was sold at the artist’s sale for 100 guineas. There is no evidence that Landseer ever made a painting of the subject, but it would appear that he lent the drawing to the late J. D. Harding, who introduced a lithographic print of it into his valuable book for Art-students, “Elementary Art, or the Use of the Chalk and Lead Pencil;” employing it to illustrate the principle that, “in Animals, where their hairy covering will not admit of being represented by continuous lines, such as are used in depicting other objects, the lines, or strokes, besides distinguishing the nature of that covering, should be so arranged as perfectly to the same rule to the human form, stating that “it should never be so enveloped in Drapery as entirely to hide its proportions.” [321-22]
Bibliography
“Studies and Sketches by Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A.” Art-Journal (1875): 321-24. Hathi Trust version of a copy in the University of Michigan Library. Web. 24 March 2014
Last modified 26 March 2014