Man’s Best Friend

This captivating pastel study highlights the range of colours in this little dog’s fluffy coat as it poses patiently for its portrait. The viewer will hopefully recognise his breed – a Sheltie or a Pomeranian or something else?

The drawing is signed and dated on the obverse HB Chalon / 1795 and is housed with convex glass in a period ebonised frame with a painted gilt border. The frame has some old chipping and loss along the bottom edge.

The son of a Dutch engraver, Henry Bernard Chalon (1771-1849) specialised in painting horses and dogs and exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1792 and 1847. He married the sister of another animal painter, James Ward, though there was no love lost between the two men. Indeed their bitter rivalry was not helped when Chalon abandoned his wife for his mistress. Chalon published two books on drawing animals.