Masterpiece Story: Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveler by Edwin Landseer

This enormous painting dominates its room in Washington, DC’s National Gallery of Art. Its size alone commands attention, measuring 189 x 237 cm (74 7/16 in. x 93 5/16 in.) and bordered by a heavy gold frame. The canvas and frame together weigh nearly 82 kg (180 lbs). The red of the dog’s blanket, the red in the traveler’s fallen cap, and the luster of the animals’ coats give the painting vibrancy and draw the viewer’s eye.

Early Mastery

Edwin Landseer grew up with art. His father, John Landseer, was an accomplished engraver and advocated for engravers to be fully admitted to the Royal Academy of Arts, a distinction beyond his qualified membership as an “associate engraver.” A man of strong opinions, he instructed his children in art. John Landseer had 14 children, 7 of whom died during childhood. Four, including Edwin, became artists. Edwin’s brother, Thomas, was an engraver like his father, and both produced engravings of Edwin’s work.

Edwin showed impressive aptitude for drawing at an early age and honed his skill with frequent practice. The animal sketches done in his youth are shockingly expert. He supplemented his art instruction with anatomy classes and dissections. In his teenage years, he became a regular contributor to the Royal Academy exhibition. He became a Royal Academy member at age 24. Animals continued to be a favorite subject of his throughout his professional career.

The Perils of St. Bernard Pass

In 1050, St. Bernard of Menthon established a hospice and a monastery to aid travelers through a particularly treacherous route through the Alps now known as St. Bernard Pass. Around 1660, the monks began using dogs in their rescue work. Alpine Mastiffs, a predecessor to St. Bernards, were the breed of choice because of their loyalty, large size, and keen sense of smell.

Dramatic retellings of these rescues became popular in literature and poetry. Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveler depicts a dramatic scene consistent with these stories. John Landseer’s pamphlet for his engraving based on his son’s painting quoted Illustrations of the Passes of the Alps, by Which Italy Communicates with France, Switzerland, and Germany, a book recounting some of these rescues.

Edwin Landseer had never travelled to the Alps, but it’s clear that tales of courageous dogs would have appealed to him due to his strong affection for animals. Landseer’s painting became another narrative in the Alpine rescues genre, which grew to the point where myth overtook fact in some cases. For instance, St. Bernards never carried barrels of brandy around their necks. This is a fiction Edwin Landseer invented with this painting, and the image lived on in popular culture.

Landseer’s Other Heroic Canines

Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveler is just one of several Landseer paintings portraying valiant canines. Saved shows a Newfoundland dog standing over the child it has just saved from drowning. Interestingly, the black-and-white variety of Newfoundlands that Landseer so often depicted in his paintings was later named the Landseer dog in his honor—the only known case of a dog breed being named after an artist.

The same positioning of a dog and imperiled human as seen in Saved appears in Attachment, a painting Landseer completed based on his friend Sir Walter Scott’s, “The Lady of the Lake,” a poem about a dog standing over an injured mountain climber. In this painting, like in Alpine Mastiffs, the hiker’s fallen cap contains a fleck of red, drawing the viewer’s eye.

A Renowned Artist and Tragic End

While the theme of loyal and heroic dogs repeats, as does his gallant portrayal of many different animals, Lanseer’s subjects extended beyond the bestial. He was a famed portraitist and one of Queen Victoria’s favorite artists. She knighted him in 1850, and he completed numerous commissioned portraits. Of course, he also expertly painted royal pets.

Despite his extraordinary talent, many, including Queen Victoria, found him difficult to work with. Often, he’d complete commissions late, and he could be sensitive about criticism. In addition, he suffered from depression and drank to excess. His capacity to negotiate the business side of his career waned, though his artistic ability remained steadfast. Toward the end of his life, those who saw him remarked upon the decline of his appearance. When he died at the age of 71 in 1873, the New York Times wrote, “Sir Edwin Landseer, who has been dead in spirit for several years, is dead now in the flesh.”

Nonetheless, Landseer had become a national icon, a friend to the royal family, and one of the most famous painters in England. More than anything, he is remembered for the magnificence he gave to his animal subjects. Alpine Mastiffs Reanimating a Distressed Traveler, though painted when Landseer was still a teenager, contains all of the valor showcased in his later works.