Hawking in the Olden Time

Landseer's Hawking in the Olden Time of 1832 revives the medieval sport of falconry in a romanticized historical genre scene combining his expertise in animal painting with the Victorian taste for chivalric medieval subjects. The painting depicts a hawking party in pseudo-medieval dress with their trained falcons, reflecting the antiquarian interests that pervaded British culture following Scott's historical novels. Landseer's ability to paint birds of prey with the same psychological precision he brought to dogs and horses distinguished his treatment from purely decorative historical genre.

Landseer's virtuoso rendering of the birds of prey and the hunting dogs demonstrates his supreme skill in animal painting. The atmospheric Highland landscape and the careful period costumes create a convincing historical setting.