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High Life

October 17, 1873
Not on view
Landseer, a favorite of Queen Victoria (whom he taught to etch) and the most celebrated animal painter of nineteenth-century Britain, made a special subject of dogs with human-seeming personalities. Such anthropomorphism, which Ruskin dubbed "the pathetic fallacy," found admiring audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. Here, a deerhound's haughty, dignified pose seems to suit its aristocratic setting, distinguished by a falconer's glove, a chalice and helmet, and a view onto a crenellated tower. High Life was once thought to depict Sir Walter Scott's dog at Abbotsford House, the author's neo-Gothic estate. In fact, the wholly imaginary scene was designed to contrast with its pendant, Low Life, which shows a terrier in a doorway beside a beer stein and pipe. Based on a painting of 1829 now at Tate Britain.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: High Life
  • Engraver: Christopher C. Hollyer (British, active ca. 1863–ca. 1873)
  • Artist: After Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (British, London 1802–1873 London)
  • Publisher: Henry Graves & Co. (British, active 1827–1926)
  • Publisher: William Schaus (American, 1821–1892)
  • Published in: London; Washington DC
  • Date: October 17, 1873
  • Medium: Mixed method engraving on chine collé
  • Dimensions: Plate: 23 1/4 × 17 11/16 in. (59 × 45 cm)
    Sheet: 26 9/16 × 22 5/8 in. (67.5 × 57.4 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1947
  • Object Number: 47.30.64
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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