1830
oil
panel
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Head of a Roebuck and Two Ptarmigan is a 1830 oil by Edwin Landseer, a British Romanticism work, depicting Hunting, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
Landseer painted a roebuck’s head and two ptarmigan birds with sharp detail on a small wood panel. The fur and feathers look almost real, down to the smallest hair and feather. This was made when hunting scenes were popular but Landseer focused on animals, not people. The white ptarmigan blends with winter snow—even in the dark part of the panel. Look for more of his animal paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago.
William Wells (died 1847), Redleaf, Kent; by descent to his nephew, also called William Wells, M. P. (died 1889), Holme Wood, Peterborough; sold, Christie's, London, May 10, 1890, lot 30, as Roe’s Head and Ptarmigan, to Martin Colnaghi. Major Randolph Charles Rufus Molyneux Clarke (died 1955); sold, Christie's, London, May 2, 1952, lot 6, to Toyer as agent for Thomas Agnew and Sons, London [acc. to annotated sale cat. and Agnew letter dated September 3, 1988, in curatorial file]; sold by Agnew's to Henry P. McIlhenny (died 1986), Philadelphia, 1952 [see Agnew letter cited above]; sold by…
London, British Institution, 1830, cat. 247, as Ptarmigan and Roebuck. London, Royal Academy of Arts, Sir Edwin Landseer, R. A., Winter Exhibition, 1874, cat. 361, as Roe’s Head and Ptarmigan. London, Royal Academy of Arts, Paintings and Drawings by Sir Edwin Landseer, R. A. 1803–1873, March 10–May 14, 1961, cat. 57 (ill.). New York, Wheelock Whitney & Co., Nineteenth Century European Paintings, October 27–November 25, 1987, cat. 10 (ill.).
Algernon Graves, Catalogue of the Works of the Late Sir Edwin Landseer, R. A. (London: Henry Graves and Co., 1874), p. 14, as Ptarmigan and Roebuck. Richard Ormond, Sir Edwin Landseer, exh. cat. (Philadelphia Museum of Art/Tate Gallery, 1981), p. 79. Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report 1987–88 (Chicago, 1988), pp. 27, 55 (ill.), 65.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Sir Edwin Henry Landseer was an English painter and sculptor, well known for his paintings of animals – particularly horses, dogs, and stags. His best-known work is the lion sculptures at the base of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square.
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