Nelson with a Terrier (1831 ?)
(oil on canvas, 28-1/2" x 36")
by
Charles Henry Schwanfelder
Schwanfelder (1774 - 1837) was an English painter known primarily for his animal portraits, so successful and well-regarded that that he served as official animal painter to King George III and King George IV.
Not to be confused with other Newfoundlands (such as the one painted three times by Sir Edwin Landseer) depicted in early-19th-Century art, given that "Nelson," used to acknowledge the great British Naval hero Lord Horatio Nelson, was a popular name for Newfoundland dogs (especially given their association with the water) at the time.
I believe this work is also known as "Nelson, a retriever with a terrier." Some writers on canine matters in the early 19th Century indeed regarded Newfoundlands as a variety or version of retrievers or spaniels. Breed identities were, to a notable degree, in flux in the early decades of the 19th Century.
