[1] In Prussia all conveyances are verbal, made in person or by
attorney before the registrar, who forthwith notes them in his books.
[2] This summary is an abridgement (with permission) of pp. 7 to 26
of Mr R. Burnet Morris's book referred to at the end of this article.
[3] Full information as to the German and Austrian systems is to be
found in a Parliamentary Report of 1896 (C.--8139) on the subject.
LANDSBERG AM LECH, a town in the kingdom of Bavaria, on the river Lech,
38 m. by rail W. by S. of Munich. Pop. (1905) 6505. It has eight Roman
Catholic churches, among them the Liebfrauen Kirche dating from 1498,
several monasteries, and a fine medieval town-hall, with frescoes by
Karl von Piloty and a painting by Hubert von Herkomer. Here also are a
fine gateway, the Bayer-Tor, an agricultural and other schools. Brewing,
tanning and the manufacture of agricultural machinery are among the
principal industries.
See Schober, _Landsberg am Lech und Umgebung_ (1902); and Zwerger,
_Geschichte Landsbergs_ (1889).
LANDSBERG-AN-DER-WARTHE, a town in the Prussian province of Brandenburg,
at the confluence of the Warthe and the Kladow, 80 m. N.E. of Berlin by
rail. Pop. (1905) 36,934. It has important engine and boiler works and
iron-foundries; there are also manufactures of tobacco, cloth,
carriages, wools, spirits, jute products and leather. An active trade is
carried on in wood, cattle and the produce of the surrounding country.
Landsberg obtained civic privileges in 1257, and later was besieged by
the Poles and then by the Hussites.
See R. Eckert, _Geschichte von Landsberg-Warthe_ (1890).
LANDSBERG BEI HALLE, a town in Prussia on the Strengbach, on the railway
from Berlin to Weissenfels. Pop. (1905) 1770. Its industries include
quarrying and malting, and the manufacture of sugar and machinery.
Landsberg was the capital of a small margraviate of this name, ruled in
the 12th century by a certain Dietrich, who built the town. Later it
belonged to Meissen and to Saxony, passing to Prussia in 1814.
LANDSEER, SIR EDWIN HENRY (1802-1873), English painter, third son of
John Landseer, A.R.A., a well-known engraver and writer on art, was born
at 71 Queen Anne Street East (afterwards 33 Foley Street), London, on
March 7th 1802. His mother was Miss Potts, who sat to Sir Joshua
Reynolds as the reaper with a sheaf of corn on her head, in "Macklin's
Family Picture," or "The Gleaners."[1] Edwin Henry Landseer began his
artistic education under his father so successfully that in his fifth
year he drew fairly well, and was familiar with animal character and
passion. Drawings of his, at South Kensington, dated by his father,
attest that he drew excellently at eight years of age; at ten he was an
admirable draughtsman and his work shows considerable sense of humour.
At thirteen he drew a majestic St Bernard dog so finely that his brother
Thomas engraved and published the work. At this date (1815) he sent two
pictures to the Royal Academy, and was described in the catalogue as
"Master E. Landseer, 33 Foley Street." Youth forbade his being reckoned
among practising artists, and caused him to be considered as the
"Honorary Exhibitor" of "No. 443, Portrait of a Mule," and "No. 584,
Portraits of a Pointer Bitch and Puppy." Adopting the advice of B. R.
Haydon, he studied the Elgin Marbles, the animals in the Tower of London
and Exeter 'Change, and dissected every animal whose carcass he could
obtain. In 1816 Landseer was admitted a student of the Royal Academy
schools. In 1817 he sent to the Academy a portrait of "Old Brutus," a
much-favoured dog, which, as well as its son, another Brutus, often
appeared in his later pictures. Even at this date Landseer enjoyed
considerable reputation, and had more work than he could readily
perform, his renown having been zealously fostered by his father in
James Elmes's _Annals of the Fine Arts_. At the Academy he was a
diligent student and a favourite of Henry Fuseli's, who would look
about the crowded antique school and ask, "Where is my curly-headed
dog-boy?" Although his pictures sold easily from the first, the prices
he received at this time were comparatively small. In 1818 Landseer sent
to the Society of Painters in Oil and Water Colours, which then held its
exhibitions in Spring Gardens, his picture of "Fighting Dogs getting
Wind." The sale of this work to Sir George Beaumont vastly enhanced the
fame of the painter, who soon became "the fashion." This picture
illustrates the prime strength of Landseer's earlier style. Unlike the
productions of his later life, it displays not an iota of sentiment.
Perfectly drawn, solidly and minutely finished, and carefully composed,
its execution attested the skill acquired during ten years' studies from
nature. Between 1818 and 1825 Landseer did a great deal of work, but on
the whole gained little besides facility of technical expression, a
greater zest for humour and a larger style. The work of this stage ended
with the production of the painting called "The Cat's Paw," which was
sent to the British Institution in 1824, and made an enormous sensation.
The price obtained for this picture, £100, enabled Landseer to set up
for himself in the house No. 1 St John's Wood Road, where he lived
nearly fifty years and in which he died. During this period Landseer's
principal pictures were "The Cat Disturbed"; "Alpine Mastiffs
reanimating a Distressed Traveller," a famous work engraved by his
father; "The Ratcatchers"; "Pointers to be"; "The Larder Invaded"; and
"Neptune," the head and shoulders of a Newfoundland dog. In 1824
Landseer and C. R. Leslie made a journey to the Highlands--a momentous
visit for the former, who thenceforward rarely failed annually to repeat
it in search of studies and subjects.
In 1826 Landseer was elected an A.R.A. In 1827 appeared "The Monkey who
has seen the World," a picture which marked the growth of a taste for
humorous subjects in the mind of the painter that had been evoked by the
success of the "Cat's Paw." "Taking a Buck" (1825) was the painter's
first Scottish picture. Its execution marked a change in his style
which, in increase of largeness, was a great improvement. In other
respects, however, there was a decrease of solid qualities; indeed,
finish, searching modelling, and elaborate draughtsmanship rarely
appeared in Landseer's work after 1823. The subject, as such, soon after
this time became a very distinct element in his pictures; ultimately it
dominated, and in effect the artist enjoyed a greater degree of
popularity than technical judgment justified, so that later criticism
has put Landseer's position in art much lower than the place he once
occupied. Sentiment gave new charm to his works, which had previously
depended on the expression of animal passion and character, and the
exhibition of noble qualities of draughtsmanship. Sentimentality ruled
in not a few pictures of later dates, and _quasi_-human humour, or
pathos, superseded that masculine animalism which rioted in its energy,
and enabled the artist to rival Snyders, if not Velazquez, as a painter
of beasts. After "High Life" and "Low Life," now in the Tate Gallery,
London, Landseer's dogs, and even his lions and birds, were sometimes
more than half civilized. It was not that these later pictures were less
true to nature than their forerunners, but the models were chosen from
different grades of animal society. As Landseer prospered he kept finer
company, and his new patrons did not care about rat-catching and
dog-fighting, however vigorously and learnedly those subjects might be
depicted. It cannot be said that the world lost much when, in exchange
for the "Cat Disturbed" and "Fighting Dogs getting Wind," came "Jack in
Office," "The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner," and "The Swannery invaded
by Eagles," three pictures which are types of as many diverse moods of
Landseer's art, and each a noble one.
Landseer was elected a Royal Academician in 1831. "Chevy Chase" (1826),
which is at Woburn, "The Highland Whisky Still" (1829), "High Life"
(1829) and "Low Life" (1829), besides other important works, had
appeared in the interval. Landseer had by this time attained such
amazing mastery that he painted "Spaniel and Rabbit" in two hours and a
half, and "Rabbits," which was at the British Institution, in
three-quarters of an hour; and the fine dog-picture "Odin" (1836) was
the work of one sitting, i.e. painted within twelve hours. But perhaps
the most wonderful instance of his rapid but sure and dexterous
brush-handling was "The Cavalier's Pets" (1845), the picture of two King
Charles's spaniels in the National Gallery, which was executed in two
days. Another remarkable feat consisted in drawing, simultaneously, a
stag's head with one hand and a head of a horse with the other. "Harvest
in the Highlands," and that masterpiece of humour, "Jack in Office,"
were exhibited in 1833. In 1834 a noble work of sentiment was given to
the world in "Suspense," which is now at South Kensington, and shows a
dog watching at the closed door of his wounded master. Many think this
to be Landseer's finest work, others prefer "The Old Shepherd's Chief
Mourner" (1837). The over-praised and unfortunate "Bolton Abbey in the
Olden Time," a group of portraits in character, was also shown in 1834,
and was the first picture for which the painter received £400. A few
years later he sold "Peace" and "War" for £1500, and for the copyrights
alone obtained £6000. In 1881 "Man proposes, God Disposes" (1864) was
resold for 6300 guineas, and a cartoon of "The Chase" (1866) fetched
5000 guineas. "A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society," a dog
reclining on a quay wall (1838), was succeeded by "Dignity and
Impudence" (1839). The "Lion Dog of Malta," and "Laying down the Law"
appeared in 1840. In 1842 was finished the capital "Highland Shepherd's
Home" (Sheepshanks Gift), together with the beautiful "Eos," a portrait
of Prince Albert's most graceful of greyhounds, to which Thomas Landseer
added an ineffable charm and solidity not in the painting. The "Rout of
Comus" was painted in the summerhouse of Buckingham Palace garden in
1843. The "Challenge" was accompanied (1844) by "Shoeing the Bay Mare"
(Bell Gift), and followed by "Peace" and "War," and the "Stag at Bay"
(1846). "Alexander and Diogenes," and a "Random Shot," a dead kid lying
in the snow, came forth in 1848. In 1850 Landseer received a national
commission to paint in the Houses of Parliament three subjects connected
with the chase. Although they would have been worth three times as much
money, the House of Commons refused to grant £1500 for these pictures,
and the matter fell through, more to the artist's profit than the
nation's gain. The famous "Monarch of the Glen" (1851) was one of these
subjects. "Night" and "Morning," romantic and pathetic deer subjects,
came in due order (1853). For "The Sanctuary" (1842) the Fine Arts jury
of experts awarded to the artist the great gold medal of the Exposition
Universelle, Paris, 1855.
The "Dialogue at Waterloo" (1850), which he afterwards regarded with
strong disapproval, showed how Landseer, like nearly all English artists
of original power and considerable fertility, owed nothing to French or
Italian training. In the same year he received the honour of knighthood.
Next came "Geneva" (1851), "Titania and Bottom" (1851), which comprises
a charming queen of the fairies, and the "Deer Pass" (1852), followed by
"The Children of the Mist" (1853), "Saved" (1856), "Braemar," a noble
stag, "Rough and Ready," and "Uncle Tom and his Wife for Sale" (1857).
"The Maid and the Magpie" (1858), the extraordinarily large cartoon
called "Deer Browsing" (1857), "The Twa Dogs" (1858), and one or two
minor paintings were equal to any previously produced by the artist.
Nevertheless, signs of failing health were remarked in "Doubtful Crumbs"
and a "Kind Star" (1859). The immense and profoundly dramatic picture
called "A Flood in the Highlands" (1860) more than reinstated the
painter before the public, but friends still saw ground for uneasiness.
Extreme nervous excitability manifested itself in many ways, and in the
choice (1864) of the dreadful subject of "Man Proposes, God Disposes,"
bears clumsily clambering among relics of Sir John Franklin's party,
there was occult pathos, which some of the artist's intimates suspected,
but did not avow. In 1862 and 1863 Landseer produced nothing; but "A
Piper and a Pair of Nutcrackers" (1864) revealed his old power. He
declined the presidentship of the Royal Academy in 1865, in succession
to Sir Charles Eastlake. In 1867 the four lions which he had modelled
for the base of the Nelson Monument in Trafalgar Square, London, were
unveiled, and with "The Swannery invaded by Eagles" (1869) he achieved
his last triumph. After four years more, full of suffering, mainly of
broken art and shattered mental powers, Sir Edwin Landseer died on the
1st of October 1873, and was buried, ten days later, in St Paul's
Cathedral. Those who would see the full strength of Landseer's brush
should examine his sketches and the like in the Victoria and Albert
Museum and similar works. In these he shows himself endowed with the
strength of Paul Potter.
See Algernon Graves's _Catalogue of the Works of the late Sir Edwin
Landseer_, R.A. (London, n.d.); Frederic G. Stephens's _Sir Edwin
Landseer_ (1880); W. Cosmo Monkhouse's _The Studies of Sir Edwin
Landseer, R.A., with a History of his Art-Life_ (London, n.d.); W. P.
Frith's _My Autobiography and Reminiscences_ (1887); Vernon Heath's
_Recollections_ (1892); and James A. Manson's "Sir Edwin Landseer,
R.A.," _The Makers of British Art_ (London, 1902).