Study of a Frog

c. 1839

Commissions from Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria commissions numerous pictures from him: first portraits of royal pets, then of ghillies and gamekeepers, and in the year before her marriage a portrait of herself. He teaches both Victoria and Albert to etch, makes portraits of their children as babies (usually with a dog) and two portraits of the couple dressed for costume balls, at which he was a guest himself.

1840

A severe nervous illness

In 1840, in his late thirties, he suffers a severe nervous illness, now believed to have been a substantial nervous breakdown; for the rest of his life he is troubled by recurring bouts of melancholy, hypochondria and depression, often aggravated by alcohol and drug use, yet he never stops drawing.

1850

Knighted

Landseer is knighted by the Queen.

1858

The commission for the lions of Nelson's Column

The government commissions Landseer to make four lions for the base of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, after a set in stone by Thomas Milnes was rejected. He accepts on condition that he need not start work for another nine months.

1861

“The Shrew Tamed” causes controversy

“The Shrew Tamed” is entered at the Royal Academy exhibition: a powerful horse on its knees in straw and a young woman with her head pillowed on its flank; the catalogue explains it as a portrait of the noted equestrienne Ann Gilbert applying the taming techniques of the “horse whisperer” John Solomon Rarey. Critics, troubled by a languorous woman dominating a powerful animal, concluded that Landseer was alluding to the famous courtesan Catherine Walters.

1866

Declines the presidency of the Royal Academy

Elected President of the Royal Academy, Landseer declines the invitation, and the position goes to Francis Grant.