Sir Edwin Landseer RA, Sheet of drawings of horse's heads

Sheet of drawings of horse's heads, ca.1810-12

Sir Edwin Landseer RA (1802 - 1873)

RA Collection: Art

The young Edwin Landseer produced a prodigious number of studies from horses. Most of these early drawings depict the working carthorses or farm horses he would have seen around him, wearing their reins and nosebags. Landseer could have drawn horses like these in London but he also visited the Essex countryside where Mr W.W. Simpson, a friend and patron of the Landseer family, owned a farm.

In 1814, Landseer was awarded the silver 'Isis' medal by the Society of Arts for a drawing of a ‘Hunting Horse’. However, despite his early enthusiasm for drawing horses, dogs were to become the main focus of his adult work. There are a few notable exceptions, however, including 'The Arab Tent' (1866) and ‘Taming the Shrew’ (1861).

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Object details

Title
Sheet of drawings of horse's heads
Artist/designer
Sir Edwin Landseer RA (1802 - 1873)
Date
ca.1810-12
Object type
Drawing
Medium
Pencil and black chalk on cream wove paper
Dimensions

16.5 cm x 20.6 cm

Collection
Royal Academy of Arts
Object number
02/106
Acquisition
Given by Sir John Aird 1883
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