This freely handled sketch of Highland sheep is one of a number of early oil sketches, drawings and écorche studies of animals found in Landseer's studio after his death. It demonstrates the artist's innate feeling for the physical properties of animal pelage; the shaggy texture of wool and the dull sheen of horn. Together with his intrinsic understanding of anatomy, it was this quality that made Landseer one of the most brilliant animal painters of the nineteenth century.
