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.
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.