Mike
and Misha Herwin 
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2222 A Dicksee Original?
The New York auction house, Doyle, is
continuing the tradition of having an annual “Dog in Art” auction, originally
established by them and Bonhams, and the sale of 15th February
includes a picture attributed as “Manner of Herbert Dicksee”. This terminology
is usually only used if the seller has some insufficient provenance to designate
the picture as by the artist and possibly has doubts about the attribution. The
picture is titled “Who’s Coming?” by Herbert Dicksee”, and bears the monogram
HD. It is described as a Mastiff and a Pomeranian. Oil on canvas, the painting
is 27 inches wide and 20 inches high.
Considering that Herbert was only 14 or 15 at the time, the picture appears to be that of an older artist. My own theory is that it is a copy made by Herbert of an earlier work, possibly by his childhood mentor, John Charlton, who did much to encourage young Herbert. However, most of Charlton’s own works of dogs are hounds and are better representations of dogs than this picture, which is rather flat and only gains any depth from the use of perspective in the floor tiles. It may be from an earlier artist than John Charlton and a copying exercise. John Charlton did occasionally paint Pomeranians and one of his showing a Pomeranian and a Manchester Terrier is below
It can be argued that Herbert would not
have developed his own style at this age but it is highly unlikely that a 14 or
15 year old, would have used such an old fashioned style for an original work.
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