Stories Pictures Tell. Book 4

by Flora L. Carpenter

In the picture the dog presses close to the coffin. His clinging paws have dragged the blanket to the floor. His eyes seem full of tears of hopeless grief, as if he understood his master could not come back. He must have kept that same rigid and sorrowful position since the men left. Some green branches placed upon the coffin have fallen to the floor because of the dog's first frantic tugging at the blanket. The shepherd must have led a lonely life indeed to have no one but his faithful dog to watch beside him. His hat and cane lie where he left them, and all is very quiet.

In another picture Landseer painted a dog lying on the ground over the grave where his master lies buried. We can easily imagine that this dog will follow his master to his last resting place and that he, too, will act as sentinel over the grave of the one he loves so dearly. Landseer wanted to make us feel how good and faithful a friend a dog is.

Questions to help the pupil understand the picture. Whose home was this? In what country did he live? Tell about his life among the hills. Who helped him care for the sheep? Why must they be cared for? Where did they stay at night? What could the old man do in the evening? When he became feeble, who did nearly all the work of caring for the sheep? When the master did not wake up what did the dog probably do? Why have the branches fallen from the coffin? Why do you suppose there is no one else in the room?

The story of the artist. Sir Edwin Landseer's grandfather was a jeweler and his father also learned that trade. The jewelers of that day were very often asked to engrave the copper plates that were used in printing pictures. Sir Edwin's father soon decided that he would rather engrave pictures than sell jewels, and he became a very skillful engraver.

At that time few people realized what an art it was to be able to cut a picture in copper so that a great many copies of it could be made from one plate. They did not even consider it an art as we do, and so engravers were not allowed to exhibit at the Royal Academy and were given no honors at all. Edwin's father thought this was not right, and gave several lectures in defense of the art. He said that engraving is a kind of "sculpture performed by incision." His talks were of no avail at the time, but within a year after his death the engravers received the recognition due them.

His eldest son, Thomas, also became famous as an engraver, and to him we are indebted for so many fine prints of Sir Edwin Landseer's paintings. Thomas also made an engraving of the "Horse Fair" for Rosa Bonheur. Few can afford to own the paintings, but the prints come within the means of all of us.

Edwin's father taught him to draw, and even when Edwin was only five years old he could draw remarkably well. Edwin had three sisters and two brothers. They lived in the country, and often the father went with his children for a walk through the fields. There were two very large fields separated by a fence over which was built an old-fashioned stile with several steps. The fence was built high so the sheep and cows in the fields could not jump over. One day Edwin stopped at the stile to look at the cows and asked his father to show him how to draw them. His father then gave Edwin his first lesson in drawing a cow. After this Edwin came nearly every day to these fields and his father called them "Edwin's studio."

When he was only thirteen years old, two of his pictures were exhibited at the Royal Academy. One was a portrait of a mule, and the other was of a dog and puppies. Edwin painted from real life always, not caring to make copies from the work of others. All the sketches he made when he was a little boy were kept carefully by his father, and now if you go to England you may see them in the South Kensington Museum in London.

Landseer was only sixteen years old when he exhibited his wonderful picture "Fighting Dogs Getting Wind." A very rich man whose praise meant a great deal bought the picture, and the young artist's success was assured.

It was about this time, too, that he painted an old white horse in the stable of another wealthy man. After the picture was finished and ready to deliver, it suddenly disappeared. A diligent search was made for it, but it was not found until twenty-four years afterwards. A servant had stolen it and hidden it in a hayloft. He had been afraid to sell it or even to keep it in his home, for no one would have failed to recognize the great artist's work.