A Gundog Selection

Any kennel owner commissioning an artist to paint his or her dogs would expect to see perfection in the finished picture, whether that was the case or not in reality.

One of the best-known examples of a picture being altered to satisfy a client is Arthur Wardle’s “The Totteridge XI,” Fox Terriers owned by Francis Redmond, of which the Royal Kennel Club and the American Kennel Club both have copies. Many years after completion of the picture in 1897, Wardle remarked: “Mr. Redmond stood over me and made me ‘perfect’ all his dogs — shorten their backs, lengthen their necks and muzzles, make their ears and feet smaller than they really were — and so on. None of them were half as good as in their picture.”

Another artist who painted to satisfy a client was Maud Earl, one of the most famous of all dog-portrait artists. Her 1906 painting in the Royal Kennel Club’s collection of two of Mrs. H.D. Greene’s Welsh Springer Spaniels — litter sisters “Ch. Longmynd Myfanwy” and “Ch. Longmynd Megan,” both highly successful dogs in the show ring — is considered by many as one of Maud Earl’s finest paintings from the period.

I had the good fortune years ago to see the family snapshots of Mrs. Greene’s Welsh Springers and Welsh Terriers, and the difference between the dogs in the snapshots and the ones in Maud Earl’s paintings is striking, to say the least.

The dogs in Lilian Cheviot’s portraits resemble more closely the dogs in contemporary photographs than those of either Arthur Wardle or Maud Earl. Lilian Cheviot’s portrait of the Sussex Spaniel Ch. Rosehill Rock and his companion Ch. Rosehill Rag is one example. Painted in 1904, it is regarded as one of the finest paintings of the breed. “Rock” and “Rag” were owned by Mr. Campbell Newington, who owned the breed for over a quarter of a century, and their portrait passed down through the family at the family home, Oakover.

In the international art world, John Emms is the most highly regarded of all dog artists, working during the “golden years” for dog portraiture: the last quarter of the 19th Century and the first quarter of the 20th Century.

Emms’ striking study of Clumber Spaniels at Clumber Park, reproduced from the Venaticus Collection, was painted in the early years of the 1880s. The breed is the only spaniel breed that originally worked in packs, and Emms depicts a team working in traditional style at the breed’s ancestral home, the Duke and Duchess of Newcastle’s Clumber Park, from where the breed gets its name.

In the dog world, Boston-born portrait and animal artist Alexander Pope is known for his portfolio entitled “Celebrated Dogs of America,” 19 of which are with the American Kennel Club. One of Pope’s “Celebrated Dogs” is the Irish Water Spaniel “Mike.” He was bred in England by J.S. Skidmore, a leading breeder of the time, and was a great-great-grandson of the first-ever champion in the breed, Ch. Jock. Shown successfully all over America and Canada from St. Louis to Ontario in the ownership of the Big Point Kennel Club of Chatham, Ontario, he won the special award for the Best Spaniel of any breed at the Detroit show in 1879. Pope’s picture was the inspiration for Russell, Olcott & Co. of Milwaukee’s Champion Mike Whiskey brand.

In the interwar years in Britain, Lorna, Countess Howe, and her Labradors dominated the show ring. Of the many “Banchory” champions, her most successful was Ch. & Field Trial Champion Bramshaw Bob. He was bought from Sir George Thursby as a field-trial winner in December 1931 and entered for Crufts two months later. As it was his first show, he was entered in six classes, all of which he won. He went on to take the dog Challenge Certificate, Best of Breed and eventually Best in Show. “Bob” returned the next year and repeated his previous win of Best in Show. In addition to being a field-trial winner, in all he won 13 championship-show Best in Shows. Reuben Ward Binks’ picture shows “Bob” retrieving a cock pheasant in a woodland landscape rich with the colors of fall.

German born but American domiciled, Gustav Muss-Arnolt is one of a small group of American painters who specialized in painting dogs. As well as his finished paintings, he completed in the region of 200 illustrations, 170 of which were for The American Kennel Club Gazette. One of his illustrations is the Chesapeake Bay Retriever Ch. Cleveland, owned by Dr. W.S. Bigelow of New York.

Unlike virtually all other breeds, the precise date of origin for the Chesapeake Bay Retriever is known. Breed authorities agree that it began in 1807, when a British vessel was shipwrecked off the coast of Maryland and two Newfoundland puppies on board were rescued and taken ashore. They were kept until adulthood, when they were mated with local retrievers. The offspring of these inherited the aquatic abilities of the Newfoundlands and retrieving skills of the local dogs. The combination proved so successful that hunters in the region of Chesapeake Bay bred more and more, and a new breed was born.

Some dog artists often bestow a certain elegance to the subject they are painting. This is evident in the painting of two English Setters working in the alien environment of sand dunes. It was painted by Thomas Blinks, perhaps the foremost sporting and animal painter of his generation. He was one of few artists to portray King George V in the hunting field. The picture featured in a Christies sale in 2001, selling for £67,550, way above its top estimate.   

There are still “gems” to be discovered in the most unlikely places. The painting of the Pointer in an open field by Maud Earl had been found in the roof space of a Devon cottage. Apart from a film of dust and cobwebs, it was in remarkably original condition. It was offered for sale by Charterhouse Auctions with the tempting estimate of £700-1,000, but sold for £3,400 to an American buyer.

Although there are many gundog breeds throughout Europe, few have found fame beyond their national boundaries. The one that has, both as a show dog and a working gundog, is the German Shorthaired Pointer. The breed was created as long ago as the 17th Century by combining the old Spanish Pointer, ancestor of so many pointing dogs, with early German bird dogs. The two here from 1896 are Patti von Reuden, owned by R. Hopfe of Mühlbach, and Pommery von Reuden, owned by W. Tropus of Reuden.