艾德文·亨利·蘭希爾爵士，R.A.

The artist's studio sale, London, Christie's, 8 May 1874 (first day of sale), lot 108 (Deerhound, Dead Stag and Fawn), for £367.10s. to Agnew's on behalf of

Charles William Mansel Lewis (1845–1931), Stradey Castle, Llanelly, Carmarthenshire;

Thence by descent.

Possibly London, British Institution, 1826 (as Deerhound and Dead Game).

A. Graves, The Works of the late Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A., London 1875, p. 11.

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Structural Support The artist's board is even and secure. There is an overall pattern of raised craquelure which, having been treated, is now stable. Landseer's oils on board do often require localised structural consolidation and the craquelure pattern is regarded as being integral to the work and is not visually distracting. Paint surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer. Inspection under ultraviolet light shows retouchings applied to cover losses, the most significant of which are in the upper right and lower left of the rocky background, on the chest of the stag and another to the right of the doe's head. There are other small, scattered retouchings, many of which are in the background and not on the animals. The overall pattern of fine lines of hairline craquelure do fluoresce unevenly but this is due to varnish residue within the hairline craquelure rather than the retouching. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in good and stable condition and no further work is required.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This beautiful, unfinished sketch forms part of a body of work from the late 1820s and early 1830s relating specifically to stalking and highland life. Consisting mostly of pictures of dead stags, in contrast to his later series of paintings focusing on the theme of the 'Heroic Stag', these works are the product of the artist's deep love of the sport, and his affinity with Highland life. Also included in this group are the dramatic Deer and Deerhounds in a Mountain Torrent (Tate Britain, London), exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1833, and the large scale Highlanders Returning from Deerstalking (Northumberland Collection, Alnwick Castle) of 1827.

Though many of these paintings are sporting groups which include portraits of Landseer's aristocratic friends and patrons, not all of them are, and the present study, like the latter, is one of a range of pictures which promoted the image and ethos of the Highlands for its own sake. In a variation on the them, as opposed to red stags, here the dead game are a pair of roe deer, a buck and a doe, their bodies entwined in death, the bucks head hanging limp over a rock. The composition emphasises the pathos of the quarry; a characteristic trait in Landseer's dark romantic vision of Highland sport. The sketch relates closely to several other depictions of dead roe deer, including Ptarmigan and Roebuck (Art Institute of Chicago) and Young Roebuck and Rough Hounds (Victoria and Albert Museum, London).

The focus of the picture, however, is the beautifully characterised deerhound, faithfully watching over his master’s quarry, which is painted with an innate sympathy and handled with a magnificent virtuosity that delineates every hair of its rough coat. Landseer’s dog paintings of the 1830s constitute one of the high points of his art and the image of the dog that Landseer portrayed have parallels in contemporary literature; particularly the work of Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens, in whose novels dogs feature largely as creatures of feeling and intelligence. Both Landseer and Scott owned deerhounds themselves and the breed were a particular favourite of the artist, both for their working abilities and their association with the chivalric world of the past.