A killed stag with two hounds. Engraving by T. Landseer, 1868, after E.H. Landseer.

The neck of the stag is broken. Its face is close to the picture plane and directed towards the viewer, with an open eye. The hounds are identified as a deerhound and a bloodhound (Royal Collection online catalogue)

""The forest" depicts the progress of a stag hunt from its stealthy initiation to its bloody conclusion. Due to the commissioning of the works from various engravers the prints appeared out of sequence. However when they are viewed in logical sequence the orginality and radical nature of Landseer's "Forest" is readily apparent. The end products of the hunt are depicted in "The venison house" (1845) and "Precious trophies" (1857). The remaining prints of this series represent animal life or man in his preparation for the hunt. For Landseer "The forest" represented a radical departure from his earlier anthropomorphic works. What Landseer's "Forest" represents only too clearly is the cruelty of man's relationship with the natural world. This series sold well and indeed, many of the works were subsequently reissued. Why was the depiction of such carnage acceptable to the largely middle class market ? ... It was the fear of pain that Landseer's "Forest" touched and played upon for, at one instant, the observer could empathise with the beast while distancing himself from man the beast."--Pringle, op. cit., pp. 232-235

London (6 Pall Mall) : Henry Graves & Co., [1868]

1 print : engraving, with etching, en chine ; platemark 41.8 x 57.2 cm

A grand hart - killed by H.R.H. the Prince Consort, Balmoral

[State without statement of publisher and artists].

In a series of prints known as "The forest". ""The forest" derives from a series of 20 chalk drawings specially undertaken by Landseer for engraving. Begun in 1845 and completed in 1861, Landseer himself commissioned and watched over the production of the prints, something he had not previously done. Engraving was undertaken by three engravers, Thomas Landseer (14), Charles G. Lewis (4) and John Outrim (2). The prints were initially released over the period 1852-1868 with some works being subsequently reissued in 1881 as part of a library edition of Landseer's works. Selling at one guinea each these prints were bought by the very same people who supported the R.S.P.C.A., the middle classes and the aspiring labour aristocracy."--Pringle, op. cit. pp. 232-233

Information about date, authorship etc. from the Royal Collection online catalogue

Trevor Robert Pringle, Prophet of the Highlands: Sir Edwin Landseer and the Scottish Highland image, PhD thesis, Loughborough University, 1988

Wellcome Collection 2897698i