The Monarch of the Glen (painting) favourite of Queen Victoria, and had become famous for his paintings and drawings of animals. His later works include the sculptures of the lions at the foot of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square. From the 1840s, he produced a series of intricately observed studies of stags based on those he had seen on the trips he had been making to the Scottish Highlands since 1824. In 1850, Landseer received a national commission to paint three subjects connected with the chase for the Refreshment Rooms of the House of Lords, for which he produced "Monarch of the Glen" and two other
Edwin Landseer the Queen, shown at the Royal Academy in 1873, made from earlier sketches. Landseer was particularly associated with Scotland, which he had first visited in 1824 and the Highlands in particular, which provided the subjects (both human and animal) for many of his important paintings. The paintings included his early successes "The Hunting of Chevy Chase "(1825–26), "An Illicit Whisky Still in the Highlands" (1826–29) and his more mature achievements, such as the majestic stag study "Monarch of the Glen "(1851) and "Rent Day in the Wilderness" (1855–68). In 1828, he was commissioned to produce illustrations for the Waverley Edition