a dog watches over his girl

thanks wikimedia commons (PD:US)

Sir Hubert von Herkomer (German, settled in Britain; 1849-1914) was no stranger to looking over his shoulder.  His childhood in Bavaria was spent in poverty, and he went to school there no more than a month or two.  What lifted him from that life was his early and undeniable gift for art.  His family moved to England where he entered the South Kensington Schools, and by the time he was 20, he exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy.  He continued to gain success after success, but then the gathering tensions before WWI made it clear that the English artistic establishment never had accepted him.
This is his 1910 work A Young Girl and Her Dog.  The garden is lush and sweet; the girl is lovely, but unaware.  That's all right.  Her friend is there with her, and nothing will get past him.  Look at his face and tell me differently.