r of 1826 was an important one to this master. He was twenty-four years
old, and was immediately admitted an Associate of the Royal Academy. No
one can be a candidate for this honor at a younger age, and very few
others have attained it so early. Before he was thirty Landseer was a full
member, and his diploma picture, "The Dead Warrior" is in the Royal
Academy. But this year saw a great change in his pictures, as may be seen
in that of "The Chief's Return from Deer-stalking," which he sent to the
next exhibition. It was free, broad, and effective beyond any previous
work, and this manner was his best. Many judges fix the year 1834 as the
very prime in the art of Landseer, and one of the works of that year,
called "Bolton Abbey in the Olden Time," is very famous. It represents the
vassals of the abbey bringing in their tributes of game, fish, and fruits,
which the jolly, old monks gladly receive.

There is no question but that Landseer's best pictures are of dogs, and we
can but echo the words of Hamerton when he says: "The best commentators on
Landseer, the best defenders of his genius, are the dogs themselves; and
so long as there exist terriers, deer-hounds, blood-hounds, his fame will
need little assistance from writers on art."

Landseer had a long and happy intimacy with Queen Victoria and the royal
family. He painted portraits of the various members of the queen's
household in all possible ways, with dogs and on horseback, in fancy dress
and hunting costume--in short, these portraits are far too numerous to be
mentioned in detail. Ever after 1835 Landseer was called upon to paint
pictures of the pets of the royal family, and these works became very
numerous. While he was thus favored as an artist he was also a friend of
the queen and her immediate family; he was often summoned to play
billiards with Prince Albert. The queen's Journal of Life in the Highlands
frequently mentions him, and we are sure that if we could read Landseer's
diary it would tell us many interesting things of the queen and her
family. Naturally it followed that an artist thus favored by the queen
would be patronized by the nobility, and it is true that much of
Landseer's time, both as an artist and as a gentleman of society, was
passed in the company of people of the highest positions in Great Britain;
and with the one exception of Sir Joshua Reynolds, no artist in England
was ever visited by so many people of rank. His house was really a soci