Dying Stag 1825 - 1835

Edwin Landseer captured this ‘Dying Stag’ with oil on canvas. Look closely at the majestic stag, its mouth agape in a final bellow, its antlers reaching skyward like the branches of a sacred tree. The stag, a symbol of virility and the hunt, evokes powerful memories. We see echoes of this motif in the ancient Greek myth of Actaeon, torn apart by his own hounds after witnessing Diana's bath. Such images tap into primal fears and fascinations. The agony of the stag, rendered with such visceral intensity, reflects a broader human anxiety about mortality, connecting us across millennia to those who found meaning in the cycle of life and death. Like a recurring dream, the stag reappears throughout art history, each time slightly altered, yet carrying the weight of its past—a testament to the enduring power of symbols to stir our deepest emotions.