# Study of Highland Blackface Sheep

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/landseer-sir-edwin-henry-rddec8dc6535d8c/study-of-highland-blackface-sheep-r78e4017dd33e32>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [LANDSEER, Sir Edwin Henry](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/landseer-sir-edwin-henry-rddec8dc6535d8c>)
- Date: 1801-1850
- Technique: Oil on millboard, 27 x 37 cm

## Commentary

This freely handled sketch of Highland sheep is one of a number of early oil sketches, drawings and écorche studies of animals found in Landseer&#39;s studio after his death. It demonstrates the artist&#39;s innate feeling for the physical properties of animal pelage; the shaggy texture of wool and the dull sheen of horn. Together with his intrinsic understanding of anatomy, it was this quality that made Landseer one of the most brilliant animal painters of the nineteenth century.

## Related artworks

- [A Deerhound with Two Dead Roe Deer](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/landseer-sir-edwin-henry-rddec8dc6535d8c/a-deerhound-with-two-dead-roe-deer-re0f4a09eea82fb>)
- [A Greyhound with a Hare](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/landseer-sir-edwin-henry-rddec8dc6535d8c/a-greyhound-with-a-hare-r9b825ed3376eec>)
- [A Highland Landscape](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/landseer-sir-edwin-henry-rddec8dc6535d8c/a-highland-landscape-rac1052f91bc6d2>)
- [A Visit to the Falconer&#39;s](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/landseer-sir-edwin-henry-rddec8dc6535d8c/a-visit-to-the-falconers-rc63f955f84b412>)
- [Head Study of a Girl](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/landseer-sir-edwin-henry-rddec8dc6535d8c/head-study-of-a-girl-r022990bcfa236c>)
- [Isaac van Amburgh and his Animals \(detail\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/landseer-sir-edwin-henry-rddec8dc6535d8c/isaac-van-amburgh-and-his-animals-detail-r0ab1bea1a3975e>)
- [Isaac van Amburgh and his Animals](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/landseer-sir-edwin-henry-rddec8dc6535d8c/isaac-van-amburgh-and-his-animals-r6cf3e2b738c878>)
- [Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at the Bal Costumé of 12 May 1842](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/landseer-sir-edwin-henry-rddec8dc6535d8c/queen-victoria-and-prince-albert-at-the-bal-costum-of-12-may-1842-r4bb84b56c97097>)
- [The Arab Tent](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/landseer-sir-edwin-henry-rddec8dc6535d8c/the-arab-tent-racf9e903ec3b14>)
- [Venus, a Landseer Newfoundland with a Rabbit](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/landseer-sir-edwin-henry-rddec8dc6535d8c/venus-a-landseer-newfoundland-with-a-rabbit-rfc2ce384ce899d>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)