The Monarch of the Glen
Sir Edwin Landseer (1802 to 1873) · 1851
A red deer stag stands on a Highland ridge with his head raised, nostrils flared, catching a scent on the wind. Mist rolls through the glen behind him and light breaks through the cloud to catch the tips of his antlers. He is a royal, a stag with twelve points, and Landseer paints him as a king surveying his territory, alert and utterly alone. It is probably the most reproduced image of Scotland ever made, and standing in front of the real thing is a surprise, because it is far more atmospheric and painterly than the whisky labels and shortbread tins suggest.
Landseer was the greatest animal painter of the Victorian age and he knew deer from years of stalking in the Highlands. Look at how the coat changes from the rough, thick hair on the neck to the smooth flank, and how the breath seems to hang in the cold air. The low viewpoint puts you below the animal, which is why he looks so monumental, and the composition is almost square, giving the stag a kind of heraldic stillness.
The painting was commissioned for the House of Lords refreshment room, but Parliament refused to pay for it and it went instead to private collectors, then to the drinks trade, where it advertised whisky and later Pears soap. For most of the twentieth century it belonged to Diageo, and in 2017 the company agreed a part gift, part sale, and a public appeal raised the balance so the picture could enter the national collection. It is now read in many ways, as a symbol of the romantic Highlands, as an emblem of the sporting estates that emptied the glens of people, and simply as a superb painting of a wild animal.
Did You Know? The picture was painted for the House of Lords, but the House of Commons refused to vote the money, so the stag never got to Westminster.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.