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Article: Collecting Antique Dog Portraits

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Home›How to collect antique paintings›Collecting Antique Dog Portraits

Collecting Antique Dog Portraits

In 1926 an American offered twenty-five pounds at Crufts for spaniels as shown in pictures of Charles II's time.

Roswell Eldridge. The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel grew out of his search.

Two King Charles spaniels of the old long-muzzled type on a dark ground The breed Two spaniels of the old type, painted before the breed was bred flat-faced. Two King Charles Spaniels, French School, 1700s
A Pekingese seated square to the viewer, his name written in the upper corner The name The painter wrote it across the upper corner. Kit. Pekingese Named Kit, Ernest Jean Delahaye, about 1910
A white dog with chestnut ears lying on stony ground, gouache on paper The service A plaque on the frame names Pipo and his campaigns, 1914 to 1918. Pipo, a Soldier's Dog, Gaston Fonseca, about 1918
A fawn puppy painted on bare mahogany, the wood left showing around it The portraitist Chaplin made his name painting the young women of Paris. Here, a puppy on bare mahogany. Portrait of a Puppy, Charles Chaplin, 1882

A dog portrait shows one particular animal, not a breed illustration. Nobody knows who owned Kit and Pipo. Everybody knows what they were called.

How the Dog Became the Sitter

First a detail at someone's feet, then the whole picture.

1702Diane and BlondeDesportes, for Louis XIVTwo hounds of the royal pack, painted for the king's antechamber at Marly. The title gives their names.
1725Misse and TurluOudry, for Louis XVTwo of the king's greyhounds. In March 1725 Louis XV came to watch them sit.
1836DashLandseer, for Princess VictoriaHer spaniel, given to her by her mother the day before her seventeenth birthday.

Three royal dogs, each painted by name. Then the habit left the court.

How to Judge an Antique Dog Portrait

A competent painter renders fur. A good one renders attention.

The lying spaniel close, a point of white in each eye, an amber ring around the pupil and the pink nose set in one stroke123 Two King Charles Spaniels, French School, 1700s, detail
1
The eyeA point of white in each eye and an amber ring around the pupil.
2
The nosePink, set down in a single stroke and left alone.
3
The muzzleThe nose sits forward of the eyes, on a real muzzle. That is the face Eldridge was looking for, and the breed lost it in the nineteenth century, when it was crossed with flat-nosed breeds.

Collecting Antique Dog Paintings by Story

A gentleman with his pointer is saying something about himself that a portrait alone could not.

A hunter standing with his gun grounded, his black and white pointer seated at his feet and looking up at him The dog looks up at him Gun grounded in one hand, cap held low in the other. The dog sits at his feet and turns its head toward him. The Hunter and His Dog, Charles Suan, 1839
A young gentleman leaning on a rock, his brown and white pointer seated beside him and looking out of the picture The dog looks away He leans on a rock, the gun against his leg. The dog sits beside him, collar on, looking out of the picture. Gentleman with His Gun and Dog, Charles Suan, 1839

Suan signed both in 1839. In both, the dog sits within reach of the man.

Buying an Antique Dog Painting

Check the breed against the date A breed can confirm a date or give it away. The Samoyed reached England only in 1889, so a white dog called a Samoyed in an earlier picture is another spitz.
Signed and dated The animal painters of the nineteenth century signed and exhibited. A signature and a date let a portrait be placed exactly.

Works citedAlexandre François Desportes, Diane and Blonde, Hounds of the Pack of Louis XIV, 1702. Musée du Louvre, Paris
Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Misse and Turlu, Greyhounds of Louis XV, 1726. Château de Fontainebleau
Sir Edwin Landseer, Dash, 1836. Royal Collection

Dog paintings for sale

Two King Charles spaniels in a dark landscape, 18th century French oil on panel in an ebonized frame Two King Charles Spaniels, 1700s $6,900See the painting Signed 1839 French portrait of a young hunter standing with his gun and his pointing dog, oil on canvas in a period gilt frame Charles SuanThe Hunter and His Dog, 1839 $4,900See the painting A gentleman with his gun and dog in a landscape, signed and dated 1839 by Charles Suan, oil on canvas in a period gilt frame Charles SuanGentleman with Gun and Dog, 1839 $4,900See the painting Signed and dated 1882 portrait of a puppy by Charles Chaplin, oil on bare mahogany panel in a carved gilt frame Charles Joshua ChaplinPortrait of a Puppy, 1882 $3,800See the painting
For sale
Antique Animal Paintings Antique Animal Paintings10 paintingsBrowse the collection
Keep reading Related guideAnimal Painting in 19th-Century France Every guide, by subject

Original works, shipped free to the US and Canada, packed and tracked|Over 1,100 paintings sold since 2017

Photographs and descriptions of the paintings in our collection by GalerieClub Fine Art.