Edwin Landseer and Jacob Bell: Victorian BFFs or Boyfriends?

I found this in, of all places, a book on Alice in Wonderland.  Male nudity in art is not a violation of Blogger policy, so it's ok to show.

It is actually a painting from A Midsummer Night's Dream (1851), now in the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia. 

Queen Titania embraces Bottom with the ass's head, while fairy folk look on in amusement. The rabbit on the right may have inspired Lewis Carroll to include the White Rabbit character in Alice in Wonderland.

 In the front foreground, we see a naked, muscular male fairy bathed in autumn light. .

The male physique is so striking, the nudity so incongruous, that I had to look up the artist.


Edwin Landseer (1802-1873), an artistic prodigy who began displaying his paintings at the Royal Academy at age 15.  A darling of the Victorian age: he painted Queen Victoria, her family, and her pets, and was chosen to sculpt the lions in Trafalgar Square.   But he made most of his money by selling engravings of his paintings, introducing fine art to the Victorian middle class.

He specialized in animals, mostly horses and dogs.

When he died, flags flew at half-mast, and shops closed for the day in mourning.

I looked at his opus -- mostly dogs and horses, an occasional person.

His painting Man Proposes, God Disposes, depicting polar bears eating the remains of Sir John Franklin's Artic expedition of 1845, now hangs in Royal Holloway College at the University of London.  It is covered during exams, because according to rumor if you sit too close to it, you will go mad.

 As far as I can tell, the illustration from A Midsummer Night's Dream is the only nude man.  Could it be an eruption of hidden passion, gay desire come to light?

Here's my evidence:








Landseer never married, but he was always surrounded by men.  He suffered from bouts of insanity through his life, and when he was incapacitated, the person who took care of his affairs was not his brother Thomas, but his friend Jacob Bell (1810-1859). 

The two also went on an extended tour of Belgium, Germany, and Switzerland in 1840.

So who was this Jacob Bell?








Originally intending to become a painter, Bell dropped out of art school and became a chemist (pharmacist).  He remained a patron of the arts, moving in artistic circles, sponsoring young artists, surrounding himself with...um...men. He was also an avid theater-goer and opera buff, sponsoring the first performances in England of La Traviata. And a dog lover, like Landseer.

He never married, either.

Two heterosexual bffs united through their love of animals and art?

Or boyfriends?

Or connected by a passion that neither understood or voiced, that erupted in a beefcake painting of Queen Titania?