Portrait of Two Dogs in a Landscape

SOLD

English, probably Yorkshire
Oil on canvas
39 x 52″ framed
Inscribed on each dog’s collar:
Walter Crossley/Fleece Inn Elland

These two dogs portrayed against the rolling hills of Yorkshire, England are a wonderful example of English folk art.  It is unclear if Walter Crossley was the artist or if he was the owner of these good natured dogs.  The large format, the almost life-size portrayal of the animals as well as the carefully rendered flora and fauna owe much to Stubbs’s compositions.  Perhaps Stubbs’s painting of the Norfolk Spaniel, now in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art, provided inspiration.

The Fleece Inn in Elland is still extant and numerous references to the Crossley Family can be found in genealogies and histories of the area.