[ Bolton / Famous European Artists ]
Bolton (1841 - 1916) was an American writer, particularly of biographical sketches and of children's stories and poems.
This book, a collection of biographies of, well, European artists (from Michaelangelo to J. M. W. Turner), was first published in 1890 (New York: Crowell).
There are two mentions of Newfoundlands, both of them, naturally enough, in the entry on Sir Edwin Landseer.
The first mention occurs during a discussion of Landseer's youth, and is in particular reference to a sketch Landseer made of a huge St. Bernard he encountered in the streets of London one day. Here, Bolton is quoting the noted English art critic Frederick G. Stephens:
Stephens says: "It is really one of the finest drawings of a dog that have ever been produced. We do not think that even the artist at any time surpassed its noble workmanship. The head, though expansive and domical in its shape, is small in proportion to that of a Newfoundland dog; the brow is broad and round; the eyes, according to the standard commonly assumed for large dogs, are far from being large, and are very steadfast in their look, without fierceness; the ears are pendulous, placed near to the head, and fleshy in substance." A live dog, admitted into the room with this picture, became greatly excited.
The second and final mention of Newfoundlands occurs in reference to Landseer's famous Distinguished Member of the Humane Society painting. Bolton again quotes Frederick Stephens:
"A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society," exhibited in 1838, is the picture of a large Newfoundland dog named Paul Pry. "He lies in the broad sunlight, and the shadow of his enormous head is cast sideways on his flank as white as snow. He looks seaward with a watchful eye, and his quickness of attention is hinted at by the gentle lifting of his ears. The painting of the hide, here rigid and there soft; here shining with reflected light, there like down; the masses of the hair, as the dog's habitual motions caused them to grow; the foreshortening of his paws as they hang over the edge of the quay, and the fine sense of chiaro-oscuro displayed in the whole, induce us to rank it," says Stephens, "with the painter's masterpieces."