Sir Edwin Henry Landseer RA (1802-1873) was an English painter and sculptor, well known for his paintings of animals -- particularly horses, dogs and stags. However, his best known works are the lion sculptures in Trafalgar Square.
Landseer was born in London, the son of the engraver John Landseer A.R.A. He was something of a prodigy whose artistic talents were recognized early on. He studied under several artists, including his father, and the history painter Benjamin Robert Haydon, who encouraged the young Landseer to perform dissections in order to fully understand animal musculature and skeletal structure. Landseer's life was entwined with the Royal Academy. At the age of just 13, in 1815, he exhibited works there. He was elected an Associate at the age of 24, and an Academician five years later in 1831. He was knighted in 1850, and although elected President in 1866 he declined the invitation.
In his late thirties Landseer suffered what is now believed to be a substantial nervous breakdown, and for the rest of his life was troubled by recurring bouts of melancholy, health anxiety, and depression, often aggravated by alcohol and drug use.
After a breakdown in 1840, partly caused by the failure of the royal portrait, Landseer had a permanent fight against depression and ill health, although he continued to paint brilliantly almost until the end of his life. In the 1860s he modelled the lions at the base of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square and these were unveiled in 1867. In 1866 he declined the presidency of the Royal Academy, and after 1870 sank slowly into mental illness. A major exhibition of his work was held at the Tate Gallery in 1981, organized by Richard Ormond.
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