Our conception of the range of Landseer's art would be quite inadequate if we failed to notice his studies of the lion. Though his works on this subject were not numerous, he was all his life greatly interested in the noble animal called the king of beasts. As a boy, he used to visit a certain menagerie called Exeter Change, and make drawings of the beasts there. A drawing of a Senegal lion, made here at the age of nine, is very creditable. The same menagerie furnished, many years later, the material for his first serious lion study. One of the animals having died, Landseer obtained the body for dissection. His methods of work were always thorough. He believed that it was only by mastering an animal's anatomy that a painter could faithfully reproduce its motions and attitudes. The result of his studies on this occasion was an interesting series of pictures,—A Lion disturbed at his Repast, A Lion enjoying his Repast, and A Prowling Lion.

Naturally opportunities for dissecting lions were not frequent, and the painter had to bide his time for further studies. A friend who could help him in this respect was Mr. Mitchell, secretary of the ZoÖlogical Society. Whenever the secretary happened to have a dead lion on his hands, he offered Landseer the first chance to obtain it. An amusing story is told of one of Mr. Mitchell's efforts in his friend's behalf. A company of guests was gathered one evening at Landseer's house, when suddenly a man servant appeared at the drawing-room door, and quietly asked, "Did you order a lion, sir?" The inquiry was made in a matter-of-fact tone, precisely as if ordering lions were an every-day affair, like ordering a rib of beef, or a leg of mutton. There was a sensation among the guests, and much merriment was caused by their pretended alarm. Tradition says that Charles Dickens was of the party, and it was he who often told the story afterwards. As it proved, Mr. Mitchell had sent the painter a lion which had died that day in the ZoÖlogical Garden of Regent's Park.

In 1859 Landseer received an important commission from the English government requiring all his knowledge of the lion. His task was to model some lions to ornament the Nelson monument in Trafalgar Square, London. This monument had been erected more than fifteen years before (1843), in memory of the admiral under whose leadership the English fleet had won their victory off Cape Trafalgar, October 21, 1805. It consisted of a tall granite column surmounted by a statue of Nelson. To make the base of the column more imposing, it now seemed desirable to place colossal bronze figures of lions at the four corners.

With characteristic thoroughness, the artist made his preparatory studies. Two of these are rough sketches on canvas in the National Gallery of London, and show distinctly the original data for his final conception. Apparently they are studies from menagerie animals. One is in profile, showing the beast as he creeps in snarling discontent within the limited area of his cage. The other sketch has caught the attitude of the animal lifting his head to scan an approaching visitor. In these two studies, Landseer obtained the proper proportions of the side face, from nosetip to ear, and the length of the front face, from the crest of the mane to the lower jaw. They also show completely the manner in which the mane grows, both along the back and on each side the face.

It could not be expected that a man who had been all his life a painter would immediately acquire proficiency as a sculptor. Landseer had his lions under way nearly ten years, and in the mean time practised himself in the new art by modelling the figure of a stag. Certain qualities of sculpture he had already shown in some of his paintings. The pose of the Newfoundland dog called A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society is conceived in the spirit of plastic art. So also is The Sleeping Bloodhound. When it came, therefore, to modelling a figure, the artist understood well how to secure a monumental pose. In this point his work is especially successful.

The lion lies in a grand, majestic attitude. The mane rises like a crown on his brow, and falls in splendid masses on either side his head. The mouth is open, and the expression a little mild for dignity. One is reminded of the tamed spirit of the menagerie captive rather than of the proud majesty of the animal in his native wilds. A work of this sort must necessarily have a certain stiffness and conventionality which we should not like in a painting.

It is said that Landseer modelled only a single figure, and the others were cast from the same model with slight variations. When at last the work was completed, the colossal figures were mounted on huge pedestals radiating diagonally from the four corners of the square base of the monument.