Noble Beasts

A thing of beauty is a great temptation. It's the summer of 1858 and everyone who can has fled London. As a foul miasma hangs over the capital, Sir Edwin Landseer is toiling at a fever pitch. Because England needs lions, England expects lions, and fifteen years to finish a monument like Nelson's column is a disgrace. But even as lions stalk the sculptor's alcohol-fueled nightmares, his dreams take him elsewhere. No longer an old man losing his grip on reality, but a young artist eager for life, recognition and love. Traversing decades, the story leaps back and forth, from the squalor of Victorian London to Landseer's youth in the waning Regency as the Duchess - twenty years his senior - bursts into Edwin's life. Noble Beasts is a fascinating tale that blends the hazy romance of the Scottish Highlands with the history of London's renowned Trafalgar Square. It charts his relationship to the Queen and the Royal Academy, alongside the events that led to his declaration of insanity in 1872. And it explores the infamous rumour that young Edwin Landseer, the painter to call if you wanted dogs or deer, was taking more from the Duke of Bedford than the occasional commission. This is the story of a famed artist, a scandalous affair, and the beasts that roamed his mind.