Thomas Gainsborough R.A. 1727-1788

Jonathan Spilsbury, Hyde Park, London;

By descent to Maria Spilsbury Taylor, his daughter, and thence by descent to Mrs F.C.Porter

This charming dog portrait is one of only a handful of animal pictures painted by Gainsborough.  The cheerful pug belonged to Jonathan Spilsbury (1737-1812), a print maker and portrait painter born in Worcester.  Between 1750-57 he was apprenticed to his cousin, George Spilsbury of Birmingham, a japanner and box painter.  He then moved to London to work as a portrait painter and print maker.  He exhibited three works at the Society of Artists between 1763 and 1771, and thirteen paintings at the Royal Academy between 1776 and 1784. 

Spilsbury was a regular visitor to Bath in the 1760s since his wife, Rebecca, was the eldest daughter of Dr. Walter Chapman, senior prebend of Bristol Cathedral, Master of St John's Hospital, and rector of Bradford-upon-Avon.  Spilsbury was part of Gainsborough's Bath circle, and during Gainsborough's stay he engraved a mezzotint of Mrs Richards, the wife of the Bath violinist, David Richards.  This mezzotint was published in 1768.  Spilsbury also made a mezzotint of the picture Two Monks Reading, a work which was thought to be by Rubens and which hung on Gainsborough's wall.

The present picture is a rare and intimate example of Gainsborough's animal portraiture.  His earliest dog portrait was of Bumper - A Bull Terrier, painted in 1745, but many of his dog portraits date from his Bath period, including a portrait of a Pug dog belonging to Mrs Downes, with similarities to the present work.  It is likely, however, on stylistic grounds, that the present work dates to the 1780s when both Gainsborough and Spilsbury had moved to London. 

We are grateful to Dr. John Hayes for confirming the attribution to Thomas Gainsborough.