the puppy

found on pinterest, please advise if not pd

Henry Herbert La Thangue (English 1859-1929) was a Royal Academician and spent some time studying in Paris under the famous French painter Jean-Leon Gerome.  With such a background you'd imagine he could paint all manner of expensive society portraits, but his preferred genre was rustic naturalism.  He loved the English countryside and loved to paint its people and their lives, using strong brushwork and sundrenched color.  That approach is striking in this undated portrait, known only as "Girl with a Puppy" or "The Puppy." Snapshot immediate, it grabs a moment when a girl in a garden laughs off the wriggling scamp in her lap.  "I can't hold him," you can hear her say.
Here's a short article on La Thangue from Victorian Web; look for the story of how his death may have been hastened when two of his paintings were supposedly lost at sea.