A Portrait of Christian De Falbe, with a Saint Bernard at Luton Hoo

A Portrait of Christian De Falbe with a Saint Bernard at Luton Hoo, painted in 1884, is an early English portrait that demonstrates Zorn's access to British country house society within just a few years of his arrival in London. Luton Hoo was one of the great country houses of England, in Bedfordshire, and Christian De Falbe was a Danish-born diplomat who acquired the estate. The inclusion of a Saint Bernard dog associates De Falbe with the aristocratic hunting and country life tradition, and the country house setting places the portrait firmly within the conventions of English landed portraiture established by Gainsborough and Reynolds. For a twenty-four-year-old Swedish painter to execute such a commission in 1884 speaks to both the social networks he had rapidly established and the quality of portraiture he was already delivering. The painting represents an early intersection of his Nordic directness with English portrait conventions.

Oil on canvas with careful attention to the English country house portrait tradition: outdoor or near-outdoor setting, the sitter's country costume, and the dog as both attribute and compositional partner. The handling of the Saint Bernard's fur requires the rough, directional brushwork that Zorn would develop extensively in later animal subjects.