Water Spaniel

Stubbs's Water Spaniel from 1769 is a canine portrait of the breed valued for retrieving waterfowl from ponds and rivers—the working dog of choice for the English shooting and wildfowling culture that sustained a significant portion of his aristocratic patronage. Water spaniels were important working animals in eighteenth-century English sporting culture, and their portraits served the same documentary and commemorative function as his equine subjects—recording specific animals of proven quality and breeding that their owners valued highly. Stubbs's treatment demonstrates his mastery of canine anatomy alongside the equine expertise for which he was primarily celebrated, applying the same systematic observation of specific anatomy and individual character to a different species with equal authority.

The water spaniel's distinctive curly coat and muscular build are rendered with Stubbs's characteristic anatomical precision, the dog's alert posture capturing breed-typical behavior.