Friar Tuck (1834) by Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-73). Source: “Studies and Sketches by Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A.” (1875): 260. “Lent by Mr. John Page, Nottingham” [Click on image to enlarge it.] Formatting and text by George P. Landow. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Hathi Trust and the University of Michigan and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document, or cite it in a print one.]
Commentary in the Art-Journal
There is humour of a different kind — convival, not combative — in the large drawing in chalk of ‘Friar Tuck,’ of whom tradition speaks as chaplain to “bold Robin Hood." Landseer’s sketch was, in all probability, made when he was occupied with ‘Bolton Abbey in the Olden Time;’ but there is no evidence of the design being carried any further than it is here seen; the holy man, surrounded by two or three foresters and sundry dogs, is emptying a beaker to somebody's health and happiness, most likely his own. On the left corner of the rude but suggestive l sketch is the outline ofa dead stag, on which one of the company has seated himself. [259-60]
Bibliography
“Studies and Sketches by Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A.” Art-Journal (1875): 257-60. Hathi Trust version of a copy in the University of Michigan Library. Web. 24 March 2014
Last modified 25 March 2014