"The Duke of Sutherland’s Children" After Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-73)

"The Lady Evelyn Leveson Gower and the Marquis of Stafford"  
After Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A. (1802-73)
Engraved by Samuel Cousins, R.A. (1801-1887)
Published Henry Graves, 1841
Etching & mixed-method engraving on paper
Presented in an extremely fine dark mahogany Victorian frame with a gilt slip and inner arch-shaped gilded repoussoir and glazed with original ripple glass.

Measures:-
Image: 56 cm high x 45 cm wide (approx.)
Framed: 72 cm high x 60 cm wide (approx.)

Provenance:-
Private collection, Angus, Scotland 

Exhibited:-
An impression of this print was exhibited by Samuel Cousins at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1841 (No. 951) as "Portraits of the Marquess of Stafford, and the Lady Evelyn Gower."

A very attractive and impressive print, presented in a very beautiful and completely authentic mid-Victorian fashion.

The original portrait painting of these children of the Duke of Sutherland was exhibited by Landseer at the Royal Academy in 1838. Frederick Stephens later wrote in his biography of Landseer:-

“'The Portrait of the Marquis of Stafford and the Lady Evelyn Gower' placed before the public in 1838, is a pretty picture of a girl with a fawn, round the neck of which she has placed a garland; a spaniel sits “begging” before her; a boy in a short dress, with bare shoulders and legs, is seated on the grass in front and looks up, while a noble deer-hound lolls against a tree; it is probably Landseer’s best portrait-picture. It was beautifully engraved by Samuel Cousins."[1]

With the interaction between the children and the animals, the work is especially full of charm. As well as being an excellent compostion by Landseer it is a masterful piece of printmaking by Samuel Cousins.

Notes:-
[1] See p.78 Frederick G. Stephens, "Sir Edwin Landseer", London, Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1880.

Literature:-
For a full description of the states etc see p.100 Alfred Whitman, "Samuel Cousins", London,  George Bell & Sons, 1904 ("154. Stafford, The Marquess of, And Lady Evelyn Gower. After Sir E. Landseer.")