[ Eckstein / The Child Restor'd to his Family, by the Newfoundland Dog (1803)]
John Eckstein (1735 - 1817) was a German-British painter and lithographer, and father of the painter John Eckstein Jr.
This painting perfectly captures the 19th-Century's changing attitudes toward dogs, from simple beasts to creatures capable of feeling and deserving of love and respect, especially when their actions reveal a profound, even noble devotion to their human masters.
This painting found further popularity when it became available as a mezzotint, engraved by Richard Earlom (1743 - 1822) and published in London in 1803 by Robert Laurie & James Whittle.
Image courtesy of The British Museum