A white poodle, sitting upright on its hind legs.

Oil on canvas in a giltwood frame, bearing a plaque 'Henry Bernard Chalon 1770-1849'.

Canvas size: 33 x 26cm

In frame: 45 x 37cm

One of the more important painters of his time, Chalon was the son of Jan Chalon, a Dutch musician and engraver from Amsterdam (1749-95), and 'Jackey' Barnard, the daughter of Sir John Barnard, a financier, London merchant, Lord Mayor and M.P. (1722-61). Chalon studied at the Royal Academy schools and married a sister of the artist James Ward. Their daughter Maria A. Chalon became a miniaturist. Chalon became estranged from his wife and James Ward tried, unsuccessfuly, to damage his career.

Chalon had considerable success as a painter and in 1795 was appointed animal painter to the Duchess of York, and later to the Prince Regent and William IV. It was during the Regency that some of his best work was painted. Other important patrons included the Dukes of Beaufort and Devonshire, Earl Grosvenor, Lord Raby and Col. Thornton. He exhibited almost two hundred pictures at the Royal Academy but was never made an Academician, possibly influenced by his brother-in-law James Ward. Despite this he had nineteen plates published in The Sporting Magazine, he published Chalon's book of animals and birds of every description, and in 1804, Studies from Nature, which shows some Stubbs influence.