Sir Edwin Landseer
1802–1873 · Romanticism & Landscape
Biography
In the mid-19th century Landseer earned some £6,000 a year, more than the income of an average English country gentleman of the time. Much of Landseer’s fortune came from engravings of his best-known works. The copyright of 625 engravings of one of Landseer’s most famous pictures, The Monarch of the Glen (pictured), for example, brought him £540, while he was able to sell the original painting for only £95.
From the page of Suspense
In old age Sir Edwin Landseer suffered several nervous breakdowns and often turned to alcohol to relieve his pain. Because of his abnormal behaviour one of his close friends described him as a man suffering from a dangerous homicidal mania. Indeed, Landseer’s last years were marked by weakness and depression, and tragically he probably fell victim to schizophrenia.
From the page of The Monarch of the Glen
