While we're looking at sporting dog art . . .

Here's one for Keith, and with a Cornell connection for all the rest of you "smart guys"--Louis Agassiz Fuertes's painting of a Chessy with some ducks thrown in for the bloodthirsty among you.

Biog info from the New York State Museum at http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/virtual/collections/fuertes/ :

Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1874-1927), was born and worked most of his life in Ithaca, NY. By the time he was eight he was already deeply interested in observing and drawing birds. An important part of his inspiration came from the work of John James Audubon whose Birds of America he pored over at the Ithaca Public Library. By the time he graduated from Cornell University, he had already begun publishing his illustrations. His first commission was from Elliott Coues of the Smithsonian Institution, leading ornithologist of the day. This quickly launched him into a very active career. He became the first person to make a successful living exclusively as bird artist. Just as Audubon influenced every bird painter since the early 1800s by "drawing from life", Fuertes added to the tradition by presenting birds not only accurately, but also capturing their natural and behavioral characteristics. The extent of his influence is summed up by Roger Tory Peterson, the most famous and influential bird artist of more recent times. "We can accurately say that there is a "Fuertes School" of bird painting even to this day, more than four decades after his death. Nearly all American bird artists have been influenced to some extent by the bird portraiture of Fuertes".

It's kind of fun thinking that this portrait was painted right on good ole' Lake Cayuga. And needless to say, I'm sure we can all agree on the vast superiority of the Chessy over other retrieving breeds in such big water situations . . . .

Side note: I believe that Fuertes painted a large number of different dog breeds as illustrations for a book about dogs. If I figure that out later I'll post the book title and publishing info.