I looked long and carefully at the picture of a stag painted by Landseer - the style was good, and the brush was handled with fine effect, but he fails in copying Nature, without which the best work will be a failure.
John James Audubon (1868). “The Life and Adventures of J. J. Audubon ... Edited, from Materials Supplied by His Widow, by Robert Buchanan. Second Edition. [With Portraits.]”, p.117