George Earl

Earl, George (1824 - 1908)

A Setter on a Moor

Stock code: C2463

Oil on Canvas

30 x 40 inches

Biography

The father of the dog and animal artists, Maud and Percy Earl, George was also the brother of another animal artist, Thomas Earl. George was an active sportsman who excelled in the depiction of dogs and he is remembered primarily as a sporting dog painter. Little is known of his background and training or his early work.

Earl exhibited nineteen paintings at the Royal Academy between 1857 and 1882, although only two were of dogs (a Maltese and an Old English Mastiff). His most important work was undoubtedly 'The Field Trial Meeting' which depicted a mythical field trial in Bala, North Wales, in which almost all the important field trial personalities of the day are depicted with their dogs. He is also remembered for an important series of portrait head studies of dogs, Champions of England. Painted in the 1870s, this was illustrated in a now rare volume of the same name.

Literature: 'Dog Painting. The European Breeds' by William Secord, published by the Antiques Collectors' Club

Leon F Whitney Dog Collection

Champion Show Dogs
at the Yale Peabody Museum

One of the Yale Peabody Museum’s more unusual, and probably unique, collections is the Leon F. Whitney Dog Collection in the Division of Vertebrate Zoology, known in the 1930s as the “Dog Hall of Fame.”

The collection was the idea of Leon Whitney—a local veterinarian, prolific writer on veterinary and other topics, developer of animal foods, breeder of bloodhounds, and student of genetics. In 1928, while attempting to write an article on dog breeds of the 19th century, Dr. Whitney found it difficult to track down relevant information. He realized that a collection of champion dogs of his own time would be a valuable reference for future study, indicative of genetic diversity and the results of selective breeding, and providing a record the current standards of the various breeds. He proposed to the Peabody, to enthusiastic support, that he would select the dogs to be housed and exhibited at the Museum.

It was hoped that eventually the collection would include one or two prime specimens from each of the 85 or 90 breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club (and also samples of the various wild dog-like species). Using show catalogs as well as his knowledge of the dog world, Dr. Whitney picked the champions he wanted and wrote to their owners requesting that, when the dogs died of disease, injury or old age, they be sent to the Yale Peabody Museum. By 1943, 49 champions had been received, 12 had been mounted (skins and skeletons) and put on display, and 32 others had been promised.

World War II slowed work on the preparation of the dogs, and eventually interest in the collection waned. The mounted specimens were taken off display and replaced by the North American dioramas on the Museum’s third floor.

As Leon Whitney hoped, the collection, now mostly in storage, has become an important scientific and historic resource. Indeed, the champions dogs are among the most actively studied specimens in the mammal collections of the Museum’sDivision of Vertebrate Zoology.

— Barbara Narendra, Archivist