British School Oil Painting on Canvas Signed "Southam" Dated 1907
After the original by Antoine Joseph Wiertz (1806 –1865)
Oil on canvas
9-1/4 x 6-1/4 inches (12-1/4 x 9-1/4 w/frame)
 
Charming oil on canvas of a gun dog dozing in his kennel; a rendition after the original Antoine Joseph Wiertz (1806 –1865) painting entitled "Le Chien dans sa Niche" or "The Dog in the Kennel" now on display in the Musee Wiertz in Brussels.
 
Wiertz was not primarily an animal painter and completed numerous portraits, landscapes, allegorical and biblical subjects.  A pupil of M. Van Bree at the Antwerp Academy, he was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1832.  In 1850 a museum was created that houses the majority of his work.
 
Wiertz was celebrated as a national hero when he died in 1865 and a monument was put up in his honor in Ixelles. Following his wishes, the former studio was turned into a museum, displaying more than 200 of his works – all fixed permanently to the wall, as he had instructed – along with his easel and other sentimental relics.