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.
Despite his connection to the royal household, Schwanfelder does not appear to have used a royal Newfoundland as his model — at least, he does not appear to have used Prince George's Newfoundland, Nelson. Prince George's dog was painted twice by Sir Edwin Landseer — he is depicted in Landseer's 1835 painting Prince George's Favourites and Landseer's c.1839 Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge with 'Nelson', a Newfoundland Dog — and a close comparison of the color patterns, especially the white blaze on the dog's muzzle, indicate that this is a different dog.
Landseer, Princess Mary...
Landseer, Prince George...
Schwanfelder, Nelson...
"Nelson," it should be noted, was a popular name for Newfoundland dogs in the early 19th Century, commemorating as it does the British naval hero Admiral Horatio Nelson, who died in the Battle of Trafalgar (October 1805), a decisive defeat of Napoleon Buonaparte's naval forces.
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.
