The heyday of dog painting was towards the end of the 19th century. The Rise of a new and wealthy middle class in England and Europe saw a renewed interest in the dog. Standards for the breeds were developed and codified by the newly established kennel clubs and the breeding and showing of dogs became a respectable activity. During the second half of the century there emerged three types of dog painting: The pet portrait, the sporting dog painting and the pure-bred dog portrait.
William Osborne was born in Dublin in 1823. He entered the Royal Hibernian Academy as a student in 1845 and he began exhibiting there from 1851. He specialised in dog portraiture and hunting groups but occasionally painted other animals such as horses and donkeys and even “‘Lioness & Cubs’ – in the zoo, Phoenix Park" in 1880. Osborne painted many private commissions. Queen Victoria loved dogs and was particularly fond of pet portraiture which created a fashion for the genre. Sir Edwin Landseer was undoubtedly the most influential of the English artists and the patronage of Queen Victoria assured him a favoured role in the artistic circles of the day. Osborne would have been aware of Landseer’s work and the public’s interest in it and he was not slow to take advantage of the increasingly popular genre.
This painting, ‘Left with the Luggage’ was painted in 1888 at the height of Osborne’s career. It shows two Jack Russell Terriers waiting with their master’s luggage at the station. They are probably going north to hunt for the shooting season. Jack Russell Terriers were first bred by the Rev. John (Jack) Russell in the first half of the 19th century. He started breeding this new type of Fox Terrier whilst he was an undergraduate at Oxford and the most distinguishing feature of this dog was its size. Most weighed no more than 15lbs and many were less. Russell insisted that his dogs were primarily hard working terriers and he always stressed the importance of function over form. Osborne captures this ideal perfectly in this portrait; the dogs are alert and ready for work and the sporting feel of the work is far greater than the ‘pure-bred’ element.
Osborne has chosen a vantage point which is slightly below the dogs, giving them an almost monumental quality. The animals are painted with great sensitivity but the picture tells a story. The commissioner of this painting would have been pleased with all that the work implied about him, wealth, sportsmanship, taste and knowledge of pure-bred dogs etc.
Osborne exhibited mainly at the Royal Hibernian Society, over 200 works between 1851 and 1901 and he was elected ARHA in 1854 and RHA in 1868. He was a highly successful artist during his lifetime and his son Walter Frederick Osborne (1859 – 1903) was also an acclaimed sporting painter.
William Osborne died in Dublin on 13th April 1901.
