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*SIR EDWIN HENRY LANDSEER, R.A. (BRITISH, 1802-73) REFRESHMENT oil on panel 39 by 50 in. 99.1 by 127 cm. This composition is based on studies and drawings from Landseer's 1840 trip through Belgium and up the Rhine to Switzerland with his friend and patron Jacob Bell, whose important collection of Victorian paintings included Landseer's Shoeing and Dignity and Impudence, as well as William Powell Frith's Derby Day which were given to the National Gallery (transferred to the Tate Gallery, London) upon Bell's death in 1859. Interestingly, this painting as well as Landseer's The Tank: Genevea (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, William Randolph Hearst Collection) which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1851, indicate that the artist was not greatly influenced by his travels and the foreign landscape. During his lifetime, Landseer's work was much admired and this painting received a glowing critical review when it was exhibitied at the Royal Academy in 1846. "The observer is at once struck by the astonishing solidity of everything comprising this picture. The 'refreshment' seems to be all upon the side of a jaded-looking gray horse, which has been helped to some carrots, and perhaps some other vegetable, as the ground is strewed with garden produce...The left of the composition shows a wide-arched doorway, at which are standing two figures, a boy and a girl-the former wearing a blue blouse...the girl wears her hair a la Chinoise; both are intently watching the horse and the carrots. In addition to these, two large dogs are lying on the ground, and towards the right of the composition there is a glimpse of admirably painted landscape, the tender and airy hues of which are beautifully rarefied by the opposition of a green bottle containing some red wine. The poor horse is only temporarily freed from his drudgery, or he still wears his collar mounted with bells and his cart-saddle garnished with sheepskin... The boy and the girl look at him as if it was a rare occurrence