Arnold Henry Savage Landor (1865 – 26 December 1924) was an English painter, explorer, writer and anthropologist, born in Florence. His grandfather was the poet and writer Walter Savage Landor

Walter Savage Landor

Walter Savage Landor was an English writer and poet. His best known works were the prose Imaginary Conversations, and the poem Rose Aylmer, but the critical acclaim he received from contemporary poets and reviewers was not matched by public popularity...

, who himself lived for long periods in Florence.

Early life and training

Landor was the son of Charles Savage Landor and his wife Esmerelda Armida Piselli, and spent his childhood in Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

 where he was educated at the Liceo Dante and the Instituto Technico. He was an artistically precocious child and studied with Harry Jones Thaddeus, an Irish portrait painter. He was inspired with a passion for travel by the books of Samuel Baker

Samuel Baker

Sir Samuel White Baker, KCB, FRS, FRGS was a British explorer, officer, naturalist, big game hunter, engineer, writer and abolitionist. He also held the titles of Pasha and Major-General in the Ottoman Empire and Egypt. He served as the Governor-General of the Equatorial Nile Basin between Apr....

, Jules Verne

Jules Verne

Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...

 and the French Journal des Voyages. Before his sixteenth birthday, he went to Paris to study at the Julian studio directed by Boulanger and Jules Lefebvre, where his talent amazed his teachers. He visited Holland, Spain, Malta, Morocco and Egypt, and with his continuing passion for drawing and painting produced many works. When he came to England to visit his uncles and cousins, he found the effects of grey and green of the countryside to be very different from the colour tones he knew in Italy. In London he met Algernon Charles Swinburne

Algernon Charles Swinburne

Algernon Charles Swinburne was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He invented the roundel form, wrote several novels, and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica...

, Theodore Watts and Lynn Linton

Eliza Lynn Linton

Eliza Lynn Linton , was a British novelist, essayist, and journalist.-Life:The daughter of a clergyman and granddaughter of a bishop of Carlisle, she arrived in London in 1845 as the protégé of poet Walter Savage Landor. In the following year she produced her first novel, Azeth, the Egyptian;...

 who were associates of his grandfather.

First expedition to America, and the Far East

Landor went to America with forty pounds in his pocket, and there he painted portraits which included President Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States . Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there...

 and Miss Lincoln, granddaughter of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

. He met the actress Lily Langtry in Chicago and painted the portraits of the American actress Cora Brown-Potter

Mrs Brown-Potter

Cora Urquhart Brown-Potter , was one of the first American society women to become a stage actress.-Biography:...

 as 'Juliet', and the actor Harold Kyrle Bellew as 'Antonio'. With the money he had made in America, Landor then went to Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

 where, aged 27 in 1889, he embarked for Yokohama

Yokohama

is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...

.

When he got to Japan, he was filled with enthusiasm for all that was around him. In Nikkō, Kyoto

Kyoto

is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

, Hakone, Kamakura

Kamakura, Kanagawa

is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about south-south-west of Tokyo. It used to be also called .Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency during the...

 and other places, he painted 24 large canvases and many small ones. While in Japan Landor painted several portraits of people at the Mikado's Court. Among these is a life size portrait of the Countess Kuroda, second wife of the Prime Minister, that of the Countessa Saigo, daughter of the Prime Minister after Count Kuroda, and one of the baby daughter of the Countess Hijikata, daughter of the Emperor's Treasurer. While in Tokyo, Landor painted a half-size portrait of Sir Edwin Arnold, author of The Light of Asia

The Light of Asia

The Light of Asia, subtitled The Great Renunciation, is a book by Edwin Arnold. The first edition of the book was published in London in July 1879....

and of many other books about India and Japan. In the course of this visit to Japan made a journey to the largely unexplored Island of Hokkaidō

Hokkaido

, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...

, where he got to know the customs of the indigenous Ainu

Ainu people

The , also called Aynu, Aino , and in historical texts Ezo , are indigenous people or groups in Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin...

. He made several paintings and subsequently wrote Alone with the Hairy Ainu (1893).

After Japan he went to Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

, where he painted portraits of Min San-ho, a nephew of the Korean queen, the Prince Min Yeong-hwan, Commander in Chief of the Korean army, and Min Yeong-chun, Prime Minister, whom Landor described as "Korea's Bismarck." From this journey to Korea, apart from his vivid sketches, came his book, Corea, or Cho-Sen, the Land of the Morning Calm (1895). From Korea he proceeded to China, visiting the Great Wall and then on to Peking

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, always sketching and making faithful notes of what he saw. He often met famous people in the most remote areas. At Hankow, for instance, he met Czar Nicholas II of Russia and Prince George of Greece. The Czar commissioned him to paint a huge canvas of the shipwreck of the Russian cruiseship the Crisorok, which Landor had originally sketched on the west coast of the island of Yezo. The canvas was then given by the Czar to the Naval Club of Vladivostok. In Peking, Landor met Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet

Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet

Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet, GCMG , was a British consular official in China, who served as the second Inspector General of China's Imperial Maritime Custom Service from 1863 to 1911.-Early life:...

, the English writer who was proficient in Chinese.

In 1891, he visited Australia, where he painted a portrait of the Prime Minister of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Sir Henry Parkes which excited much admiration in Sydney because of its striking resemblance. While in Sydney, Landor painted the portrait of the African explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley.

Later travels

Landor returned to England, and Queen Victoria invited him to Balmoral

Balmoral Castle

Balmoral Castle is a large estate house in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is located near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and east of Braemar. Balmoral has been one of the residences of the British Royal Family since 1852, when it was purchased by Queen Victoria and her...

 so that she could look at his drawings and hear of his journeys. In London he became great friends with James McNeill Whistler

James McNeill Whistler

James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American-born, British-based artist. Averse to sentimentality and moral allusion in painting, he was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". His famous signature for his paintings was in the shape of a stylized butterfly possessing a long stinger...

 and Joseph Pennell

Joseph Pennell

Joseph Pennell was an American artist and author.-Biography:Born in Philadelphia, and first studied there, but like his compatriot and friend, James McNeill Whistler, he afterwards went to Europe and made his home in London...

.

In 1897 he set off on his travels to explore Tibet

Tibet

Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...

 where he was captured and suffered terrible adversities and tortures. Nevertheless, he discovered the sources of the Indus and the Brahmaputra. Landor returned fearlessly to Tibet a second time and then to Nepal. From his journeys to Tibet and Nepal come his books In the Forbidden Land (1898) and Tibet and Nepal (1905).

On his return to Europe, Landor gave an increasing number of popular lectured and went on to America to repeat them there. While in America, he heard of the Boxer Rebellion

Boxer Rebellion

The Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...

 in China, and went immediately to Peking where he was the first to accompany General Linievitch in the triumphal entry parade of honour at the Forbidden City. From this journey came his book China and the Allies (1901).

In 1901 he journeyed to India from Russia, riding on horseback through Persia, and in that year published his account of the journey in the book Across Coveted Lands (1902). He then went to the Philippines where he met the future General Pershing and, returning across America, he succeeded in convincing Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

 that Pershing would be the man which America would need for its Army. Another book The Gems of the East, describes this journey of discovery (1904).

Then Landor dedicated himself to exploring Africa which was almost unknown at the time. In Abyssinia he painted the portrait of the Emperor Menelik II. In 1906 he published Across Wildest Africa and in 1911 and 1912 he went to the Mato Grosso in Central America. On his return to Europe, during his lectures, he told stories of meeting boa serpents, weeks of almost dying of starvation, voyages in canoes in rapids leading to the Amazon River, and many other terrible wanderings. His lectures were requested not only as entertainment for wordly society, but also by scholars. In 1913, Landor published Across the Unknown South America.

In 1912 Landor spoke at the Sorbonne

Sorbonne

The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...

, introduced by Paul Deschanel

Paul Deschanel

Paul Eugène Louis Deschanel was a French statesman. He served as President of France from 18 February 1920 to 21 September 1920.-Biography:...

. Later he was a guest of Gabriele D'Annunzio

Gabriele D'Annunzio

Gabriele D'Annunzio or d'Annunzio was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, and dramatist...

. The poet gave him, as soon as he entered, an inscribed copy of his last novel Più che l'amore, stating that it was inspired by Landor's book on Tibet (In the Forbidden Land). D'Annunzio suggested they collaborate on his next novel. Landor did not accept the offer. The poet, a few days later, said he was asked to write an article for the Corriere della Sera. Landor, tricked by this, showed him his notes, and entertained him with a number of anecdotes. After some years, Landor discovered in a fascicle of Critica, the journal edited by Benedetto Croce

Benedetto Croce

Benedetto Croce was an Italian idealist philosopher, and occasionally also politician. He wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, methodology of history writing and aesthetics, and was a prominent liberal, although he opposed laissez-faire free trade...

, some extracts of Annunzio's latest novel Forse che sì, forse che no, plagiarized from Landor's travels in the Philippines, in Asia and in Africa, which the novel's hero, an aviator explorer, recounted in the first person.

Inventions

In the first years of the twentieth century Landor was interested in making flying machines with bamboo and taffeta, but abandoned these inventions to take up traveling again. With the outbreak of the Great War he dedicated himself to inventions and designed tanks and airships between 1915 and 1918 on the Italian front.

Later years

After so many adventures Landor's health broke down, and he travelled less frequently. He was meanwhile an extremely popular figure, being a friend of the Kings of Italy and Belgium and of Pope Pius X

Pope Pius X

Pope Saint Pius X , born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the 257th Pope of the Catholic Church, serving from 1903 to 1914. He was the first pope since Pope Pius V to be canonized. Pius X rejected modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, promoting traditional devotional practices and orthodox...

. Other friends included General Luigi Cadorna

Luigi Cadorna

Luigi Cadorna GCB was an ItalianField Marshal, most famous for being thechief of staff of the Italian army during the first part of World War I.-Biography:...

, Prince Alexander Obrenovic of Serbia, Eleftherios Venizelos

Eleftherios Venizelos

Eleftherios Venizelos was an eminent Greek revolutionary, a prominent and illustrious statesman as well as a charismatic leader in the early 20th century. Elected several times as Prime Minister of Greece and served from 1910 to 1920 and from 1928 to 1932...

 of Greece and Essad Pasha

Essad Pasha

Essad Pasha Toptani or Esad Pasha Toptani , primarily known as Essad Pasha, was Ottoman army officer, Albanian deputy in Ottoman parliament and politician in the early twentieth century in Albania...

. In the theatre he knew Maude Adams

Maude Adams

Maude Ewing Kiskadden , known professionally as Maude Adams, was an American stage actress who achieved her greatest success as Peter Pan. Adams's personality appealed to a large audience and helped her become the most successful and highest-paid performer of her day, with a yearly income of more...

 and Sarah Bernhardt

Sarah Bernhardt

Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known". Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas...

 and painted a portrait of Sada Yacco

Sada Yacco

Sada Yacco or was a Japanese actress and dancer.Born in Tokyo as Sada Koyama, Sadayakko was trained as a geisha and came to the attention of the prominent Japanese politician Itō Hirobumi, who took an interest in furthering her education. In 1894 she married the actor Otojiro Kawakami, to whom she...

, the Japanese actress.

When his mother died in 1915 and his father in 1917, he was deeply affected and retired to his home in Florence, where he died in 1924. His remains rest in the family chapel in the English Cemetery, Florence

English Cemetery, Florence

The English Cemetery is in Piazzale Donatello, Florence, Italy.-History:In 1827 the Swiss Evangelical Reformed Church purchased land outside the medieval wall and gate of Porta a' Pinti from Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany for an international and ecumenical cemetery, Russian and Greek Orthodox...

.

His autobiography Everywhere: The Memoirs of an Explorer (1924) is an account of a life lived intensely, and a witness to the history and customs of far away people of the last two decades of the nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth.

Three exhibitions of his paintings have been displayed – in 1959–60 by the British Council

British Council

The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...

, in the Palazzo del Drago at Rome, in the Palazzo Antinori in Florence and in Naples at the British Consulate.

Works

• Alone with the Hairy Ainu (1893)
• Corea or Cho-sen (1895)
• In the Forbidden Land (1898)
• China and the Allies (1901)
• Across Coveted Lands (1902)
• The Gems of the East (1904)
• Tibet and Nepal painted and described (1905)
• The Living Races of Mankind (1905)
• Across Widest Africa (1907)
• Across Unknown South America (1913)
• Everywhere, the Memoirs of an Explorer (1924)

External links

• Works by Arnold Henry Savage Landor at Internet Archive
  Internet Archive
  The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
  
   (scanned books illustrated in color)
• Works by Arnold Henry Savage Landor at Google Books (scanned books illustrated) (plain text and HTML)
• "A. Henry Savage Landor" by Piero Fusi.