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Head of a Roebuck and Two Ptarmigan
Provenance
William Wells (died 1847), Redleaf, Kent; by descent to his nephew, also called William Wells, M. P. (died 1889), Holme Wood, Peterborough; sold, Christie's, London, May 10, 1890, lot 30, as Roe’s Head and Ptarmigan, to Martin Colnaghi. Major Randolph Charles Rufus Molyneux Clarke (died 1955); sold, Christie's, London, May 2, 1952, lot 6, to Toyer as agent for Thomas Agnew and Sons, London [acc. to annotated sale cat. and Agnew letter dated September 3, 1988, in curatorial file]; sold by Agnew's to Henry P. McIlhenny (died 1986), Philadelphia, 1952 [see Agnew letter cited above]; sold by McIlhenny estate, Christie's, New York, May 20, 1987, lot 147. Wheelock Whitney & Co., New York, by October 1987; sold to the Art Institute, 1988.
Exhibition history
London, British Institution, 1830, cat. 247, as Ptarmigan and Roebuck. London, Royal Academy of Arts, Sir Edwin Landseer, R. A., Winter Exhibition, 1874, cat. 361, as Roe’s Head and Ptarmigan. London, Royal Academy of Arts, Paintings and Drawings by Sir Edwin Landseer, R. A. 1803–1873, March 10–May 14, 1961, cat. 57 (ill.). New York, Wheelock Whitney & Co., Nineteenth Century European Paintings, October 27–November 25, 1987, cat. 10 (ill.).
Publications
Algernon Graves, Catalogue of the Works of the Late Sir Edwin Landseer, R. A. (London: Henry Graves and Co., 1874), p. 14, as Ptarmigan and Roebuck. Richard Ormond, Sir Edwin Landseer, exh. cat. (Philadelphia Museum of Art/Tate Gallery, 1981), p. 79. Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report 1987–88 (Chicago, 1988), pp. 27, 55 (ill.), 65.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Edwin Henry Landseer (English, 1802-1873)
- Date
- c. 1830
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Dimensions
- 22.5 × 30.4 cm (8 7/8 × 12 in.); Framed: 37.5 × 45.5 × 7.7 cm (14 3/4 × 17 7/8 × 3 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- oil on panel
- Style
- nineteenth century
- Place
- England
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture of Europe
- Credit line
- Purchased with funds provided by the Auxiliary Board
- Accession no.
- 1988.42
More by Edwin Henry Landseer in museum collections
A Farmer Feeding his Pony in Geneva (recto); Seated Friar (verso)
Edwin Henry Landseer1840 (recto); c. 1840 (verso) · Drawing
Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00001203
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