A Spaniel Lying Down

A Spaniel Lying Down (c. 1860) at the Yale Center for British Art is a companion study to the lying-down dog works in the Mellon collection, representing the observational practice that sustained Landseer's formal portrait work. The spaniel — a breed particularly associated with English sporting life and with Queen Victoria's personal pets — was a subject Landseer had painted throughout his career, from his earliest exhibited works in the 1820s to these late panel studies. The intimacy of the lying-down pose, with the dog relaxed and completely at ease, captured a quality of domestic animal life that Landseer valued as much as the heroic or dramatic subjects for which he was better known.

Oil on panel with the economical handling of a direct study. The panel support gives the surface a firmness that Landseer exploits for precise description of the spaniel's characteristic long, silky ears and curling coat. The resting posture is rendered with anatomical accuracy without losing the quality of relaxed ease.