image courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum
The Twa Dogs (1822)
(oil on canvas, 17" x 21.25")
by
Sir Edwin Landseer
Landseer (1802 - 1873) was only 19 when he painted this work, which illustrates Robert Burns' 1786 poem "The Twa Dogs," in which a Newfoundland and a collie compare their lives. Burns' poem is discussed here at The Cultured Newf.
The Landseer Newfoundland who modeled for this painting, Neptune, was also the subject of two other paintings by Landseer: Newfoundland and Terrier at a Stream (1822) and Neptune (1824).
This work is briefly discussed in Landseer by Estelle Hurll, published in 1901 (New York: Houghton, Mifflin), who reports that Landseer painted this work a second time, some 30 years after the initial painting. She also remarks on the painting's capturing of the essential qualities of these two breeds:
The contrast between the two canine types is well brought out in our picture. Even the attitudes show their opposite temperaments. The collie is a somewhat awkward figure, sitting on his haunches, with legs far apart, nervously alert. The Newfoundland dog lies at his ease with one paw elegantly crossed over the other. They talk muzzle to muzzle, the one long and pointed, the other thick and square.
In those days the collie was chiefly the poor man's dog, the indispensable aid of the shepherd, and the friend of the laborer. It was not until later years that, following the example of the Queen, the rich began to notice his good qualities, and he became a popular favorite. But neither Burns nor Landseer needed to be taught by the dictates of fashion to understand the collie's fine nature. The dog they portrayed, however, was not the luxuriously reared pet we know to-day, but the unkempt companion of humble folk.
The Newfoundland dog, though of plebeian origin, and a hard worker in his native land, is generally regarded as an aristocrat. He is dignified, gentle, and kindly in nature.
Both dogs are very sagacious, and the painter and poet agreed in giving them the thoughts and feelings of human beings.
Hurll's discussion of Landseer's Newfoundlands is treated in more detail here at The Cultured Newf.
Burns' poem is also the subject of a much more recent artwork, a statue by the English sculptor Sally Matthews, which is discussed here at The Cultured Newf.