Painting: 'Suspense' in Gold Frame

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It is said of Landseer that he discovered the dog. He was the first to study his intelligent face and eyes, and his faithfulness. Others had painted the dog's treachery, his bad tamper, his fondness for thieving, but Landseer showed him as the companion of man and the mourner of his loss. He showed the same insight into the intelligence and affection of other animals, but dogs were his speciality, and his pictures of them are the most popular, probably because their truth can be appreciated by everybody. He loved all animals, and he painted them so that the public loved them too. Whether he painted horses, sheep, or stags, or any other creatures, he showed them at their best, not in their meanness but rather in their nobility. Especially is this true of his stags, which are true monarchs of the glen, painted in the highland surroundings which were his happy hunting ground. There is no doubt that a great measure of his popularity was obtained by sacrificing a certain amount of the higher artistic value. Landseer was apt to exaggerate the human interest in his animals by giving them a full measure of human intelligence. They are always on their best behaviour, always spick and span, and as often as not endowed with sentimental attractions which are unusual rather than inseparable from their animal character. In his later period, when his technique failed, he emphasised the interest of his pictures by providing titles which aroused curiosity, but this we can readily forgive him for the pleasure he gives us, and for his revelations of the lovable qualities of our canine friends and companions. "Suspense" is considered by many to be Landseer's finest work. It shows a dog watching at his wounded master's closed door, and illustrates the artist's happy gift of suiting title to subject.