Antique Print of Girl with Mother Dog & Her 7 Puppies  “A Privileged Visitor” by Stanley Berkeley 

The wood engraving of Stanley Berkeley’s late 19th century painting was done in London by Richard Taylor (“R Taylor & Co” is in the lower right corner).

The girl reclines on a pile of hay as she lifts up one puppy as another one climbs over her lap.  Another one is in the front climbing up to the hay pile while the rest of them just sleep or rest in front of, on or behind their mother.  

This appears to be a sweet group portrait of a family of either Saint Bernards or Bernese Mountain dogs.  The Saint Bernard was the most popular dog breed in the 1890s, so it would have been a logical choice for a Stanley Berkeley painting.  Bernese Mountain dogs (Berners) were working farm dogs (and family companions) throughout the 1800s, but they had declined in popularity and numbers (and quality) in Europe in the 1880s and 1890s.  In the early 1900s there were concerted efforts in Switzerland to revive the breed. (Berners weren’t introduced in the U.S. until 1926.)

In this happy and busy scene, the girl’s hat and basket are at the lower right; there is a dog bone in the center foreground.  The mother dog’s collar and chain leash hang on the wall in the background at the left.  At the back right is a window with a view out to trees.

The painting “A Privileged Visitor” by English artist Stanley Berkeley (1855-1909) was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London.

This print has been hand colored with watercolor paint.

When we purchased this several years ago to be added to a growing collection of works of art featuring children with animals,   it had already been professionally framed.  So we have never examined the unframed work of art itself.  By looking at it through the glass, it does appear to be the original wood engraving.  But several companies now do make reproductive prints of it; we have never seen any of those modern “copies” in person so we don’t know their quality. The dimensions of the image itself do not seem to match the published measurements of the modern copies currently on sale from a few online companies.  Bottom line — we cannot definitively determine if this is the original wood engraving from the late 1800s or if it is a high quality modern print of the 19th century wood engraving.  It is the same price either way.

To try to reduce interference from reflections and glare on the glass we held the camera at various angles, and we moved the framed art to different positions.

The gilt wood frame is 15” x 19”.   The print has a single mat; the mat window is about 9 1/2” x 13 1/2”.

The price includes free shipping to U.S. customers.

All of the art work and collectibles being sold by Adams-Byrd have been collected and selected one at a time by the proprietor, an art historian with many years of training and experience in university art history departments, museums, galleries and historic sites both in the U.S. and abroad.  Our small family business has been based in the Washington, D.C. area for many years.  Our online presence has now replaced our brick & mortar locations. The art and collectibles that we are offering to discerning shoppers are special and unique pieces that have been carefully “curated” by us. 

www.adamsbyrdcollection.com

www.adamsbyrdantiques.com  (with links to the online venues where we sell)