CHARLES LANDSEER (1799-1879) (Lots 154-157) In 1815 when John Landseer bought his sons to be trained under B.R. Haydon instead of the Royal Academy Schools, a new phase in art education in England began (F. Cummings, 'B.R. Haydon and his School', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, XXVI, no. 3/4, 1963, p. 367). What was new about Haydon's method of teaching anatomical drawing was that he not only made his pupils copy prints and drawings, including his own, but he sent them to draw cadavers and make their own dissections. The studies fall into three categories, copies from printed sources, copies of anatomical drawings by Haydon and drawings made direct from dissections. Haydon purchased a copy of Albinus in Plymouth in 1803 and subsequently a copy of John Bell's Engravings explaining the Bones, Muscles and Joints, 1794. He also drew from specimens preserved in the collection of the Naval Hospital in Plymouth and collected these drawings in an album, which he lent to his students to copy. The three stages of learning are represented in the present group of drawings. Several carefully delineated drawings in pale red and black are copied from Albinus; bolder red and black ink drawings with wash are copied from Haydon's Plymouth Naval Hospital studies, the third large scale observations of dissections were made at Charles Bell's anatomy theatre at 10-11 Leicester Street, Soho, London. Some of the drawings are very closely related to signed examples by Charles Landseer in the Wellcome Library and the British Museum.

Charles Landseer, R.A. (1799-1878)

A full size écorché study of a hound

Details

Charles Landseer, R.A. (1799-1878)
A full size écorché study of a hound
with inscription and date 'E Landseer 1821' (on the reverse)
black, red and white chalk on paper
21 3/8 x 28¾ in. (54.4 x 73 cm.)

Provenance

with Yvonne ffrench, London 1963.
with Sabin Galleries, London, 1981.

Brought to you by

Harriet West

hwest@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2541

Lot Essay

The circumstances under which these anatomical drawings were executed inevitably mean that in certain cases there is a query over the exact attribution. Despite the inscription scholastic opinion on the present drawing is divided. Andrew Wyld believed it to by Charles Landseer, others think it could be by the young Edwin Henry Landseer. For other écorché drawings of hounds by Edwin Landseer see S. Owens, 'Ecorché drawings by Edwin Landseer', The Burlington Magazine, May 2012, pp. 337-344.

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