The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-01-16

engravings made Of them. At his death |
his estate was that Of man Of ample |
fortune.
Landseer's life was wholly that Of an !
artist. He was not a man of business,
or OF interest in anything besides his
art When boy and young man his
father looked after all his affairs AL
though he earned handsome sums of
money from the time he was is il was
not until he was % years of age that
he relieved his father Of his care of
HIM. Even after he set up an estab-
lishment on his own account his pecu-
mary affairs were managed for him by
others.
IN all his life Landseer lived in only
two houses. The first was that of his
father. The other was his own, in ST
Johns Wood road, where he resided
nearly fifty years. Such was the hos
pitality the bOnhomie, the entertaining
and enjoyable character Of its owner,
this St. Johns Wood house became the
most famous center of art and artists
and art lovers in England.
Landsesr's ability was very great
apart from his special genius as an
artist. He perhaps Of ali artists in his
time was unexcelled for his manual
dexterity, his facility of execution. He
was without doubt the most rapid
craftsman Of art Of his age. He turned
out finished pictures in the same space
Of time that other artists would have
taken for merely sketching them. He
accomplished with single strokes Of a
/ broad brush effects Of detail which
other artists would have had labOrioUs-
/ ~ to work in, as it were, in pencil
strokes. Nor was there, in this facil-
/ ity Of execution. which increased with
l his years, that deterioration of exact
/ ness in drawing and accuracy in finish
which might have been expected, al
/ though there was some deterioration
/ Besides. he possessed one faculty
+ which was absolutely unique. He could
/ draw two different pictures, with his
right and left hands, at once. not al
/ ternating the strokes, but making them
& With each hand naturally in order. as
/ If the hands belonged to different per
sons. This faculty, so far as we know,
/ has never been equaIed.
/ In social life Landseer was a great
! favOrite. He was always the lion Of
/ the party he happened to be in. His
/ powers Of mimicry were very great, ard
/ nothing ever gave an assembled COM
pany more amusement than when
/ Landseer could be got to initiate the
/ voice and gesture Of some brother ar
list.
Landseer was not ambitious. In the
! ordinary sense of the word. Once when
( begged by his fellow artists to stand
for the presidency OF the Royal acad-
! envy, the highest honor in his profess
/ sion, he declined acceptance of the dig
nifty, although his election would have
been certain. But he was without doubt
the most popular and the most famous
British artist OF his day. and at the
Paris exposition. of 1855 was honored
by jury of experts with the great
gold medal Of the exposition, being the
only British artist that was so hon
ored
Lan6see1- has been called the arts;
dtscOverer Of the Scottish highlands. A
very great many of his themes are
founded on Scottish incidents and
scenes When he was a young man Sir
Walter Scott was enc of his most ar
dent admirers, and it no doubt is due
10 Scott that Landseers interest in
Scottish life and character was arst
awakened. In 1924, when he was IN his
twenty-second year. Scott carried him
of to AbbOtSfOrd. where, as the painter
Leslie has told US. he made himseii
very popular both with the master .anC
mistress by painting their dogefes for
them" Afterward Scott sent him on
with Leslie on a tour in the highlands
and from that time forward the high
lands were Landseer's faYOrite recrea.
ton ground and field of work
Unlike Scott, however. Landseer wa.
not a sportsman. This seemed very
strange TO those who knew Landseel
only from his works, for a very gres
. many of his pictures are concerned witt
sporting themes. His interest in tn,
! life Of the mOors and mountains va:
E wholly that Of the artist. Once when
; fine stag came bounding his way, III
astonished his gillies by excitedly hand
; ing them his gun and saying. Here
. take this quicki" Instead OF kiIlini
the noble animal. he made a sketch O