Tapageur, the Poodle belonging to the Honorable Frederick Byng

Details

Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, R.A. (British, 1802-1873)
Tapageur, the Poodle belonging to the Honorable Frederick Byng
signed with the artist's initials and dated 'E. L. 1819/RA' (center right)
oil on canvas
32 x 42 in. (81.3 x 106.7 cm.)

Provenance

The Hon. Frederick Byng.
Sir William Robert Williams, 3rd Baronet (1860–1903), until 1903.
His sale; Christie’s, London, 28 November 1903, lot 2.
Mr. Hamilton, acquired at the above sale.
Robert John Arnott, 4th Baronet (1896–1966).
with Spink & Son, London, until the 1960s.
Private collection, UK.
with Simon Dickinson, London.
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner.

Literature

F. G. Stephens, Memoirs of Sir Edwin Landseer a Sketch of the Life of the Artist, Illustrated with Reproductions of Twenty-four of His Most Popular Works, London, 1874, p. 182, no. 272.
A. Graves, Catalogue of the Works of the Late Sir Edwin Landseer R.A., London, 1875, no. 53.
J. A. Manson, Sir Edwin Landseer, R. A., London, 1902, pp. 46, 207, with incorrect date.

Exhibited

London, Simon C. Dickinson Ltd., Sporting Art from Stubbs to Munnings, an Exhibition of 300 Years of British Sporting Art, 2 June - 26 June 2009.

Engraved

Robert Mitchell, 1852, as Tapageur.

Lot Essay

Sir Edwin Landseer R.A., was one of the 19th century’s foremost animal painters. Born in London, the son of the engraver John Landseer, he was most famous for his paintings of horses, Highland scenes, and especially dogs, which made him a particular favorite of Queen Victoria. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1815, when he was only thirteen years old. After being elected ARA at the age of twenty-four, Landseer was raised to RA in 1831. The present painting, dated 1819, was undertaken when he was only seventeen years old, and demonstrates the young artist’s already mature handling of both paint and composition at this early moment in his career. The poodle Tapageur belonged to the Hon. Frederick Gerald Byng, who was himself nicknamed ‘Poodle,’ a sobriquet which had been given to him by Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, when he was young as a reference to his thick curly head of hair.

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