The Dog Painter, Johns Emms

John Emms was a Norfolk-born painter of the late 19th and very early 20th Century who was an enthusiastic and accomplished hunter and painter of foxhounds, terriers, and horses.

As a general rule, I distrust dog paintings -- they are too often trotted out because there are no current example of the breed at work, and it's never certain the breed ever did much work at all. Paintings are simply too romantic and too easy to make up stories about. That said, Emms knew dogs and his thick strokes suggest muscle and vitality.  This is a man who smelled of dog, leather, and dirt every bit as much as oil paint and ink.