Artwork Information

Richard Andsell's animal subjects often rival those of Landseer both in execution and composition, and place him in the forefront of Victorian sporting art. In Highland Shepherd the placing of both animals and family close to the picture plane, and the horizontal format, give a sense of the isolation of the Scottish landscape, where both flock and family depend on each other for survival. Such pictures found particular favour with Queen Victoria, whose estate at Balmoral, which she acquired in 1848, was referred to as 'her truly Princely & romantic little Kingdom'.