Sir Edwin Henry Landseer R.A. 1802-1873

Given by the artist to the Reverend Thomas James Judkin;

Anon. sale, Christie's, 8th March 1935, lot 109, bt. Howard for £16-16-0

Landseer showed an interest in wild animals from an early age.  He studied them at menageries, and collaborated with his brother Thomas on a set of engravings.  Both artists were particularly fascinated by monkeys, who were a common sight in the early nineteenth century at fairs and on the streets, and they were also strongly influenced by early pictures of monkeys by Teniers and Hondius.  Thomas Landseer etched a group of grotesque monkey subjects, entitled Monkeyana, which satirized man's vices, and Edwin Landseer painted several monkey subjects in the 1820s, including The Cats Paw (1824) and The Traveled Monkey (1827).  This lively study belongs with this group.  It avoids the savage cruelty of The Cats Paw, and shows the monkey in a lighter mood, looking at his reflection in a mirror.

Thomas James Judkin was a friend and admirer of John Constable, who conducted the artist's funeral service at Hampstead.  He was also an honorary exhibitor at the Royal Academy and a collector (his collection included The Evening of the Deluge by Turner).