Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, R.A.

Edward John Coleman of Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire (1834–1885), by whom acquired directly from the artist;

His sale, London, Christie's, 28 January 1881, lot 50; 

Sir Samuel Edward Scott, 6th Bt (1873–1943);

His executor's sale, London, Christie's, 16 July 1943, lot 1, to Leggatt;

With Leggatt Brothers, London;

Robert, 2nd Baron Brocket (1904–1967);

Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 5 July 1957, lot 31, to Brown on behalf of Lord Beaverbrook;

The Second Beaverbrook Foundation;

By whom gifted to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, Canada, 1959.

Art Journal, 1866, p. 170;

Athenæum, no. 2011, 12 May 1866, p. 170;

J. Dafforne, Pictures by Sir Edwin Landseer, RA, London 1873, pp. 61 and 82; 

F.G. Stephens, Memoirs of Sir Edwin Landseer, London 1874, pp. 141 and 159;

A. Graves, Catalogue of the Work of the late Edwin Landseer RA, London 1875, p. 34;

J.A. Manson, Sir Edwin Landseer RA, London, 1902, p. 163; 

R. Ormond, The Monarch of the Glen, Landseer in the Highlands, Edinburgh 2005, pp. 105 and 127.

London, Royal Academy, Landseer Memorial Exhibition, Winter 1874, no. 47;

London, Grosvenor Gallery, Summer Exhibition, 1890, no. 369.

Sir Edwin Landseer, a favorite of Queen Victoria and perhaps the greatest animal painter of the 19^th century, exhibited this drawing at the Royal Academy’s annual exhibition of 1866, the year after he had been offered the Presidency of the institution, a role he in fact decided to turn down. 

The work is astonishing for its scale and its kinetic energy. A magnificent red deer and a great hound are seen locked together in a dramatic and potentially deadly chase. The dog, whose agility and speed are clear, has almost drawn alongside his quarry and is seen snapping at the stag’s flanks. As its sharp teeth find their target, the great beast frantically rolls back its eye and throws its dagger-like antlers to the sky. Despite the shock of the dog’s bite, the stag remains a powerful adversary and he may still go onto prevail. 

Landseer intensifies the sense of drama by both placing his subjects extremely close to the picture plain and also setting them against an opaque, misty, background. Viewers are forced to focus on the battle and Landseer's exceptional skills as a draftsman only succeeded in increasing the tension.

The Chase forms part of a series of large-scale pastels that Landseer created in the later years of his career and according to James A. Manson, in his 1902 biography, it was drawn at Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire, the home of Edward John Coleman, an important friend and patron.¹ Other drawings from the series include: Browsing, circa 1857, The Fatal Duel, circa 1861 and Children of the Mist, circa 1866.²

¹ As well as the present work, E.J. Coleman owned Landseer’s polar masterpiece Man Proposes, God Disposes (Royal Holloway College, Surrey) and his Scottish highland themed Odds and Ends (private collection).

² R. Ormond, The Monarch of the Glen, Landseer in the Highlands, Edinburgh 2005, pp. 126–27, no. 143 and 144.