Images Dated 2009

England Expects

Signed
Oil on canvas 18 x 24 ins
There was much political infighting between supporters of Toy Bulldogs, Miniature Bulldogs and French Bulldogs: the Kennel Club would not have them, the Bulldog people didn't want them but the French Bulldog Club finally won the day and that breed survived, although all three were probably variants of the same. The two here are Toy Bulldogs, a breed that did not survive the First World War. They are Ch Peter Amos and Ch Ninon de L'Enclos, both owned by Lady Pilkington who made up eight of the 20 Champions in the breed. This is the original painting for the photogravure number 22, England Expects, in Maud Earl's portfolio Terriers and Toys

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