Landseer’s The Monarch of the Glen


Small but full exhibition at the National Gallery to mark the loan of Landseer’s “Monarch of the Glen” from the Scottish National Gallery.

It’s rather fun as you walk towards the gallery to see this wonderful clique shining out from the wall. Like many art cliques it’ a much better picture than the endless shortbread tins and whiskey bottles convey. I loved the white highlights on the horns and on his nose which give it a sense of space and scale.

The show put this picture in context including some Stubb’s anatomical pictures which Landseer copied and pointing out that Whistlejacket is a precursor for this picture. It also hung it with other pictures of staffs by Landseer including a copy of a now lost mural by him by Queen Victoria.

The show discussed Landseer’s religious views and hinted that the stag is actually an allegory for the risen Christ. Antlers, which fall off an regrow, have often been taken a symbol of Christ and the stance of the stag putting itself in a vulnerable possession to hunters has a sacrificial feel to it.

It also looked at his commission for the lions around Nelson’s Column, just yards from the gallery. It included a beautiful oil sketch of a pacing lion in London Zoo he did in preparation and a picture by John Ballantyne of Landseer working on the sculpture with his dog beside him and the same picture of a pacing lion on the floor.

Closes on 3 February 2019

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