Images Dated 2009

An Early Canine Meeting

Signed and dated 1855
Oil on canvas 29 x 37 ins
This is one of the most historic of all dog paintings. It depicts a scene at Jemmy (or Jimmy) Shaw's Queen's Head Tavern in 1855. Leads, as they were sometimes called, bridge the gap between the early baiting and fighting sports and dog shows, as we now know them. It shows Shaw and many of his regulars, all men, for the ladies had their own shows held in more genteel surroundings. A number of early breeds are shown - Bulldogs, Bull Terriers, Black and Tan Terriers and Toy Spaniels. The walls are covered with prints depicting aspects of sporting life, including boxing, for Shaw was a skillfull lightweight pugilist of his day.
Usage: Q10-27

© The Kennel Club

FT Ch Sulhamstead Sheilin D'Or

Pastel 27.5 x 38.5 ins, signed
Mrs Florence Nagle, owned the two Irish Setters Valla D'Or and Sheilin D'Or. Mrs Nagle was a great friend of Aldin, the friendship being formed through Mrs Nagle's friendship at finishing school in Paris with Aldin's daughter, Gwen. Mrs Nagle trialled her Setters from the 1920s to the 1960s, during which time she made up 18 Field Trial Champions. She held strong beliefs that her dogs should be good lookers as well as good workers and both Valla and Sheilin were winners in the show ring. In the field, Sheilin was the first Irish Setter to win the Champion Stakes, which she did in 1927. The Kennel Club acquired the two paintings following the death of Mrs Nagle in 1988, aged 94. Mrs Nagle maintained that Valla and Sheilin were inseparable in life and should remain so in death and their pictures hang side by side

© The Kennel Club

Portrait of a Borzoi

Canvas 76 x 63 ins, signed and dated 1890
This painting is a fine example of the breed before it was established as a show dog in this country. It was painted two years before the first Borzoi became a champion. This painting was bequeathed to the Kennel Club by Kathleen, Duchess of Newcastle and may prove to be one of the unsolved mysteries of the collection. A brass plaque that used to be beside the painting stated that the Borzoi is Ch Vetch but in her will the Duchess bequeaths the Borzoi Champion Velsh. In fact there was no champion Borzoi of either name in this country, nether did the Duchess own one so named. She did however own a famous dog named Ch Velsk, the sixth Borzoi to become a champion and the sire of four champions. It would therefore appear that there had been a mix up of names or a mistake of the part of a typist, and Velsk is in fact the dog in the painting. However photographs of Velsk show a dog with entirely different markings to the dog in the painting. F

© The Kennel Club