Chevy Chase

Chevy Chase takes its subject from the famous medieval English ballad recounting a border conflict between the Percy and Douglas families. The subject allowed Landseer to combine his expertise in painting deer and dogs with dramatic narrative, creating a work that appealed to the Victorian taste for literary and historical subjects. Edwin Henry Landseer, the most celebrated animal painter in Victorian Britain, combined exceptional technical mastery of animal anatomy with the capacity to invest his subjects with human emotional significance. His training under Benjamin West at the Royal Academy gave him the academic foundations; his lifelong observation of animals in the wild (particularly in Scotland) and in captivity gave him the specific knowledge that made his animals convincing. Queen Victoria's patronage and the wide dissemination of his work through engravings made his images of dogs, deer, and Highland scenes among the most reproduced images of the Victorian era, shaping the culture's visual understanding of the animal world and the British landscape.

The tumultuous hunting scene is rendered with dynamic brushwork conveying motion and violence. Landseer’s mastery of animal anatomy is evident in the twisting, falling deer and the straining hounds.