It’s been our pleasure to share the artwork of dog artists since the beginning because art speaks to us, and a talented artist can capture with a brush, pencil, clay, fiber and printmaking what words don’t always manage.We thought you’d like to know a little something about one of the talented people whose work we’ve shared, a trailblazer for her time who is now regarded as the Queen of Canine Art
Maud Earl was born in 1864, an English born lass whose father, uncle and half brother were all animal painters of note. Her father took pains to teach Maud the anatomy of her subjects, including skeletons, to improve her skill, and she later said that it was this instruction that set her skill apart from other dog painters. Maud went on to study at Royal Female School of Art, and in 1897, she had an exhibition in which she showed paintings of 48 different breeds of dog.
Earl became famous during the Victorian Era when women weren’t expected to make their living at painting. Her clientele included Queen Victoria, the Duchess of Newcastle, and Queen Alexandra. Although extremely successful in England, Earl felt that the world she knew had been destroyed by World War I and she emigrated to New York City in 1916. She established her studio and residence at the Volney Hotel and the pure-bred dog fancy quickly took her under their wing, several commissions coming almost immediately.
Critics have said that Earl’s work evolved through four styles. Early dog portraits painted between 1880 and 1900 were naturalistic in style, but between 1900 and 1915, her work became looser, almost sketchier. Earl referred to her style during her first few years in the United States as “oriental style” when her subjects included birds painted with delicacy, and in the 1930s, she painted stylized dog portraits during the 1930s.
In an interview in the November, 1898 issue of “The Young Woman,” Maud said, “You can’t paint dogs unless you understand 
them; I don’t mean merely from the fancier’s point of view. You must know whether they are happy and comfortable, and if not, why not. You must know how to quiet them when they become excited and nervous. You must know all their little likes and dislikes, and this knowledge comes from long experience.”
Maud Earl died in New York in 1943 and is buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York. Her original work is available through auctions and prints can be found at Encore Editions.
Yorkshire Terrier by Maud Earl