Attachment, Sir Edwin Henry Landseer (1829)
This painting illustrates Sir Walter Scott's poem "Helvellyn," about a faithful dog that guarded her master's body after he had fallen while mountain climbing. Though the body went undiscovered for three months, the dog stayed to ward off the ravens and foxes that might have scavenged the remains. Edwin Henry Landseer dramatizes this scene through vivid contrasts of light and shadow, and by placing the man's body at the bottom of the composition, which emphasizes the great height from which it fell.
