Description

Title: Large Victorian Oil Portrait Rough Collie Signed by John Trivett Nettleship

Description: Important C1898 Victorian Oil Portrait of a Rough Collie by John Trivett Nettleship (1841–1902)

Subject & Medium
A characterful late 19th century portrait painting of a Cherised Rough (Scottish) Collie standing proudly in left profile in an open landscape. The dog’s rich sable-and-white coat, long refined head and alert yet gentle expression are beautifully observed, giving the sense of a much-loved companion as well as a fine pedigree animal.
Medium: Traditional oil on canvas, the classic medium for serious Victorian animal portraiture, allowing Nettleship to build depth in the coat and atmosphere in the landscape.

Composition & Technique
Nettleship composes the picture so the collie dominates the foreground, placed slightly forward and off-centre, with the landscape falling away behind. This gives a strong sense of presence – almost like a human three-quarter portrait – while still acknowledging the dog’s outdoor, working origins.
The head and neck are rendered with particular care: the line of the muzzle is clean and elegant, the almond-shaped eye finely picked out, and the characteristic “tipped” ears are set at just the right angle to suggest alert attention. Around the ruff and mane, the brushwork becomes more animated, describing the thickness and direction of the coat, while softer strokes model the long hair down the body and legs.
Colour is handled with a sensitive eye: deep sable browns melt into warmer golden notes, broken by crisp passages of white around the collar and chest. These warm tones are balanced against a more subdued landscape in greens, ochres and blue-greys, painted broadly and with slightly softened edges so nothing competes with the sitter. A gentle frontal light catches the ridge of the muzzle, chest and upper back, bringing the collie forward and giving it a natural, three-dimensional presence.
Overall, the composition combines formal portrait dignity with an unforced sense of life – exactly what late Victorian owners sought when they commissioned portraits of their favourite dogs.

About the Artist – John Trivett Nettleship
John Trivett Nettleship was a noted British 19th-century animal painter, celebrated in his own day for powerful depictions of lions, tigers and other wild creatures. For nearly three decades he exhibited substantial canvases at the Royal Academy and the Grosvenor Gallery, establishing himself as one of the key exponents of serious animal painting in Victorian Britain.
Born in Kettering, Northamptonshire, Nettleship initially trained in law before devoting himself to art, studying at Heatherley’s and the Slade and largely refining his own mature style through independent work. Intellectually, he moved in advanced circles: he published influential essays on the poet Robert Browning, wrote a study of George Morland, and associated with admirers of William Blake and the broader Pre-Raphaelite milieu.
Because he was best known for dramatic wild-animal subjects and large exhibition pieces, finished portraits of domesticated dogs are relatively scarce in his oeuvre. A signed and dated Rough Collie of this quality therefore represents an unusually intimate and personal side of the artist’s work, and will appeal to collectors of both animal painting and Victorian literary–artistic circles.

Signed
The painting is signed and dated by the artist in the lower corner:
J. T. Nettleship 1898
This clear signature and date place the work securely in Nettleship’s mature period at the end of the Victorian era.

Historic Importance
This portrait carries historical interest beyond its decorative appeal.
It is a rare domestic dog commission by an artist whose reputation in his lifetime rested mainly on wild beasts and grand exhibition pictures, showing that Nettleship was also trusted by private patrons to portray their beloved animals with the same seriousness he reserved for lions and tigers.
It also captures the Rough (Scottish) Collie at a key moment in the breed’s story. By the 1890s, collies had moved from purely practical hill dogs to refined show and companion animals closely associated with country houses and educated middle-class owners. The elegant head, thick double coat and poised stance seen here are all hallmarks of that late-Victorian type, before some of the more extreme modern exaggerations.
The work sits firmly within the wider Victorian “cult of the pedigree dog” – the era when kennel clubs, organised dog shows and formal portraits of individual champions and favourites flourished. Commissioned works like this are valuable small documents of social history, recording how families and estates chose to represent themselves and their animals.
Finally, unlike many anonymous dog paintings of the period, this example benefits from traceable modern provenance through major auction houses, making it a useful reference piece for future scholars and collectors of Nettleship and collie imagery.

Dimensions Framed:
Height: 66 cm
Width: 81 cm
Depth (frame thickness): 5 cm
A very pleasing “interior” size – large enough to hold its own above a fireplace, console or sofa, while still easy to place in a domestic room, study or office reception.

Frame
The painting is presented in a recently fitted Larson Julh gilt moulded decorative frame which suits the warm browns and creams of the collie’s coat and the soft greens of the landscape. The gilt finish catches the light well and provides an elegant surround that reinforces the work’s Victorian character. With hanging thread verso ready for immediate display.

Provenance
This painting enjoys unusually good modern provenance for a late 19th-century dog portrait:
Painted and signed by John Trivett Nettleship in 1898.
Private Collection
Anon. sale, Christie’s, London, 12 November 1971, lot 191.
Private Collection, Germany (later 20th century).
Auktionshaus Eppli, Stuttgart, catalogued as Collie in front of landscape, 25 March 2023.
Notable London Auction House Roseberys, catalogued as Portrait of a Border Collie in a landscape, 22 November 2023.
Subsequent online auction, 5 April 2024, under the title Portrait of a Scottish Rough Border Collie Dog.
Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD, United Kingdom – present collection.

Why You’ll Love It
It transforms a room – this is a genuine focal piece, the kind of painting your eye goes to the moment you walk in.
Wonderful for dog and collie lovers – the sitter feels like a real individual: intelligent, loyal and a little proud, the way a cherished companion should look.
Perfect for interiors – the warm browns, creams and soft greens work beautifully with wood, leather, stone and neutral schemes, whether in a period home, country kitchen, study or smart office reception.
Serious Victorian art with heart – you’re not just buying a “dog picture” but a signed 1898 work by a recognised British animal painter, in a rare domestic subject, with documented provenance through major auction houses.
An heirloom piece – it has that special quality that feels immediately at home yet important enough to keep in a family or collection for generations.

Condition Report
Offered in fine used condition.
The original canvas presents well, with the front painting surface in good overall order. There are foxing stains and areas of age-related craquelure in places, together with some historic paint touch-ups to parts of the background, all commensurate with the work’s Victorian age.
It is set in a new recently fitted Larson Julh gilt frame
Additional close-up photos can be supplied on request and should be consulted as part of the condition report.

Add this historic prized animal portrait masterpiece to your collection today.

Reserve: $6,885.00

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Condition

Used

Buyer's Premium

15%

Large Victorian Oil Portrait Rough Collie Signed by John Trivett Nettleship

Name: Large Victorian Oil Portrait Rough Collie Signed by John Trivett Nettleship
SKU: 231882394
Price: 3400 USD
Availability: InStock