This classic English school 12 x 16 in. Oil on Canvas framed painting features a pet Spaniel and cat resting on a desk in a home study environment. The dog is seated, its body facing the right side of the painting while its head is facing the viewer at the picture plane. The Spaniel has a long haired black and white patterned coat. Its long ears are black and curly and face is mostly black with an area of white fur on its head and a strip of the white down the nose and into the chin. The stomach and legs/paws are mainly white, while his back and tail are both black, although its full body is not visible. The domestic cat is depicted sleeping to the right of the dog, both positioned on a green desk. The cat is sleeping horizontally with the composition, its head on the left and its curled up body and tail on the right. The cat has mainly grey fur with patches of white on its nose, neck and the one leg and one paw that is visible to the viewer.
The edge of the green desk, closest to the picture plane, meets with the bottom edge of the work and the left edge of the green table is only partially visible as the further half is cut off by the left side of the canvas. The desk is an olive green color and takes up the foreground of the piece. On the desk next to the cat is just a small corner of a singular document that reads "Young America" and then below that a couple of flourishes/ ornamental lines and the date, "1872." Behind the document, on the desk, are five standing books and two stacked books. The books appear to be up against the back wall that is depicted in the work, next to a hung landscape painting. The largest standing book's title is "Natural History," a greenish/blue hardback book with a maroon red strip where the title and author's name is on the book's spine. A smaller book standing on the right of "Natural History" is a copy of "Robinson Crusoe," a darker green hardback with a strip of silver for title and author upon the spine. To the left of "Natural History" is an untitled book and to the left is a copy of "Arabian Nights," a tan hardback with red/orange at the title and author's name. To the left of "Arabian Nights" is another untitled book. The two books laid on the desk, on the right side of the standing books, are both tan/light brown books. Since the books are not standing, the spine is not visible to us so the title and authors are unknown.
The painting hanging on the wall, left of the books and behind the cat and dog, is a classic English landscape painting. The painting is interrupted by the dog's head, blocking our full view of the work, which is also obstructed because the hung painting is cut off by the left edge of the composition. We are able to discern a grey structure on land (seemingly a castle), some blue water, a blue sky with white clouds, and a large tree that stands in front of the castle. The entirety of the composition reads as a still-life or genre scene, in which we see an everyday scene at the desk in the study of an educated and presumably wealthy homeowner. The placements of the objects on the table adhere to the qualities of still-life painting, while the inclusion of animals reflects the idea of normal, everyday life, as depicted in genre paintings.
The ornate wooden, gilt frame measures at 20 x 24" and is newer than the painting. The fluted frame is concave with embellishments at each corner and has a linen liner and gold filament framing the painting.
The artist is Unknown.
