The Marmozettes

Item #7701

Price $65.00

This is a genuine vintage engraving titled "The Marmozettes " published in The London Art Journal of 1859. The print is in excellent condition and shows a finely detailed view of a couple of small marmosets on a dish with a pineapple and hazlenuts. This is an engraving of an original painting by Sir Edwin Landseer which was engraved by T. Landseer.

Edwin Landseer, the famous painter of animals, was born in London, the son of John Landseer ARA. He first exhibited works at the Royal Academy in 1815, at the precocious age of 13. He was elected ARA at the age of 24, and RA some five years later in 1831. Further honors followed - he was knighted in 1850, received a gold medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1855, and in 1866 was elected President of the Royal Academy, a position which he declined to accept.

Landseer became famous for his pictures of horses, dogs and stags, many of them later engraved by his brother Thomas Landseer. Often Landseer's animals have a sentimentality of treatment which today feels uncomfortable. As well, Landseer gave human attributes to his animals, sometimes indicated in the titles of the paintings, such as Alexander and Diogenes or Laying Down the Law. However, he was without doubt one of the best animal painters.

Landseer was important enough that most galleries with a representative collection of 19th Century British art will have something by him. There are several at the Tate Gallery, of which The Dying Stag is perhaps the most well-known, and a whole bunch in the Henry Cole Wing of the V & A. Also in London is Hunting in the Olden Times and other works at Kenwood House and at the Wallace Collection. Wolverhampton Art Gallery has two further hunting scenes. A good Titania and Bottom, typically concentrating on the ass's head and two white rabbits with luminous eyes, is at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. Finally, his most familiar works are not paintings at all - the huge lions in Trafalgar Square, London.

It is printed on a heavy stock paper blank on the reverse side and is accompanied by a page with an article and review of the painting and the work of Landseer. The dimensions of the engraving, minus the margins, are approx. 7.25 " X 10". The entire page measures approx. 9.50" X 12.50", with white margins. This is not a reproduction. This is an antique steel engraving, over 145 years old, and guaranteed to be as described.