A Dandie Dinmont

Perhaps more than any other artist born in the 19th Century, Maud Earl is associated with the painting of pure-bred dogs. Taught by her father, the well-known animal artist George Earl, she quickly developed her natural talent for capturing the true character of her canine subjects. Prolific and much sought after, she exhibited widely in England and painted many of the most important dogs of her day, including those belonging to Queen Victoria. Other royal patrons included the Prince and Princess of Wales, the future Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. She never worked from photographs, preferring instead to paint what she saw. She sketched the general anatomy of the dog with chalks before embarking on capturing the character of the animal in oils.