Hector, Nero, and Dash with the parrot, Lory, Edwin Landseer

Hector, Nero, and Dash with the parrot, Lory, Edwin Landseer

On 24 November 1837, Queen Victoria (1819-1901) recorded in her Journal that Sir Edwin Landseer (1803-73) had shown her a sketch he had executed that very morning ‘of a picture he is to paint for me of Hector and Dash’. Five days later, the Queen noted that she had seen ‘the picture of the dogs, with the dogs only sketched in, but quite beautifully’ (Journal, 29 November 1837). Although Lord Melbourne reportedly admired the painting on 23 January 1838, it was not until 9 April that Queen Victoria would consider the picture as ‘finished’ and ‘the most beautiful thing imaginable’ (Journal). The work was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1838 and was dubbed by the Queen as being ‘too beautiful’ (Journal, 4 May 1838).

Landseer’s group portrait of royal pets depicts the greyhound Nero, Hector the Scottish deerhound, Dash the spaniel and Lory, the parrot seen cracking nuts, within a naturalistic interior. The low viewpoint and the relaxed positioning of the animals endow the portrait with a sense of informality and intimacy.