Oil paint on canvas
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-edwin-henry-landseer-323" aria-label="More by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir Edwin Henry Landseer</a>
Shoeing
Bequeathed by Jacob Bell 1859
animals: mammals
blacksmith
dog - non-specific
donkey
forge
horse
industrial and crafts
interiors
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tool
tools and machinery
work and occupations
workspaces
<p>This picture was commissioned by Jacob Bell who was one of Landseer’s most important patrons. It portrays Bell’s mare ‘Old Betty’. Bell originally wanted Landseer to depict the mare with her foal. However, Landseer repeatedly put off the commission. By the time he was ready to paint ‘Old Betty’ the foal had outgrown its mother. In introducing a donkey into the composition Landseer was using a device popular with many other animal painters, whereby the donkey’s rough coat is contrasted with the sleekness of the horse.</p><p><em>Gallery label, November 2016</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
6 January 2003
6 January 2003
2003-01-06
National Horseracing Museum (Newmarket, UK)
http://www.nhrm.co.uk/
2003-01-06
Long loan to National Heritage Centre for Horseracing & Sporting Art
Loan-out
3 October 2008 – 19 January 2009
2009-01-19
3 October 2008 – 19 January 2009
2009-01-19
2008-10-03
Musée National du Château de Compiègne (Compiègne, France)
2008-10-03
Napoléon III et Victoria, une visite à l'Exposition universelle de 1855
Loan-out
5 November 2012 – 20 July 2014
2014-07-20
5 November 2012 – 20 July 2014
2014-07-20
2012-11-05
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-11-05
Gallery 9
Collection based display
Shoeing
support: 1422 × 1118 mm
Frame: 1815 × 1505 × 130 mm

Bequeathed by Jacob Bell 1859
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<p>
<i>Shoeing</i> depicts the bay mare Old Betty in a composition that celebrates the horse’s merits and reveals Landseer’s skill as a painter of texture and light. A circular path of light moves across Betty’s powerful back and hind quarters, down to the farrier, whose work she patiently endures. The path continues to a drooling bloodhound and donkey, their respective coarse fur and tufted mane contrasting with Betty’s sleek and shiny coat. The horse is elevated above all else in the composition, including man, who, bent double at her rear, works in her service. Each animal’s gaze is directed towards the hardworking farrier, perhaps alert to the smell of the smouldering shoeing, or its repetitive tap, which offers an auditory counterpart to the singing blackbird in the cage above.</p>
<p>Portraits of animals enlivened with a narrative element were the artist’s specialty. Landseer had shown a talent for depicting animals since childhood (see Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/landseer-the-dog-racket-n06180" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N06180</span></a>, a drawing of a dog he made aged 11), becoming affectionately known as the ‘little dog boy’ to fellow artist Henry Fuseli, who taught him at the Royal Academy schools. <i>Shoeing </i>was exhibited in 1844, by which time Landseer had become one of Britain’s most popular painters, lauded for his portrayals of domestic animals and dramatic Highland hunting scenes. Animal painting had enjoyed a gradual ascent in academic status since the late eighteenth century, benefiting from the work of George Stubbs, for example, some of whose anatomical horse drawings Landseer owned. Animal painting was enduringly popular. Landseer captured the public’s imagination, becoming the most published artist of his time. More than half of his income in the 1840s came from copyright fees on engravings such as that made after <i>Shoeing </i>in 1848.</p>
<p>
<i>Shoeing</i> was commissioned by the artist’s long-time friend, Jacob Bell. The painting was originally conceived in the 1830s as a portrait of Bell’s favourite horse, Old Betty, with her foal. By the time Landseer committed himself to the painting, however, years had elapsed and the two foals bred by Bell for the purpose of the picture had grown up. Landseer’s procrastination over commissions became increasingly common through his life, particularly in the wake of his nervous breakdown in 1840. Bell provided a wealth of support from this point onwards, managing his financial affairs, negotiating with patrons and printmakers and allowing Landseer use of Old Betty.</p>
<p>
<i>Shoeing</i> received a mixed response from critics when it was exhibited in London, perhaps owing to its evocation of seventeenth-century Dutch genre painting, which was unfashionable at the time. John Ruskin, for example, lamented the painting’s level of detail and pristine finish. Nonetheless, it was named as part of a group of works that earned Landseer the Gold Medal at the Paris exhibition of 1855.</p>
<p>Bell bequeathed <i>Shoeing</i> and seven other Landseers, including <i>Dignity and Impudence</i> (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/landseer-dignity-and-impudence-n00604" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00604</span></a>), to the nation in 1859. Important works by Landseer were also included in British art bequests from Robert Vernon and Sir Henry Tate. Tate has since acquired examples of Landseer’s work in other genres, such as landscape, to represent the range of the artist’s output.</p>
<p>Amy Concannon<br/>Revised 15 May 2023</p>
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Summary
2023-05-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<div class="text">
<p>This picture was commissioned by Jacob Bell who was one of Landseer’s most important patrons. It portrays Bell’s mare ‘Old Betty’. Bell originally wanted Landseer to depict the mare with her foal. However, Landseer repeatedly put off the commission. By the time he was ready to paint ‘Old Betty’ the foal had outgrown its mother. In introducing a donkey into the composition Landseer was using a device popular with many other animal painters, whereby the donkey’s rough coat is contrasted with the sleekness of the horse.</p>
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Display caption
2016-11-15T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
animals: mammals blacksmith dog - non-specific donkey forge horse industrial and crafts interiors objects tool tools and machinery work and occupations workspaces