Footnotes

• Provenance
  With Richard Green, London, May 1970 from whom purchased by the present owner's father
  
  
  This large scale canvas can be considered among Monnoyer's more significant commissions that he was known to have painted to decorate the prominent country houses of France and England after establishing his name collaborating with Charles Le Brun, Louis XIV's Court painter, on floral and still life decorations for the Grand Trianon at Versailles and the royal châteaux at Meudon and Marly. Whilst it is unusual for Monnoyer to include dogs in his compositions, there is a notable example in the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg that features two dogs by an urn of flowers (see: S.H.Paviere, Jean Baptiste Monnoyer 1634-1699, Leigh on Sea, 1966, cat. 116 ill. pl. 52). The breed of King Charles spaniel had been popular at the English court in particular. Monnoyer first came to England in 1690 for a few months at the invitation of Ralph Montagu, later Duke of Montagu, English Ambassador to Louis XIV. He settled in England permanently in 1692, working at Boughton, Montagu House, Windsor Castle, Kensington Palace and Hampton Court. His patrons included Queen Mary, the Duke of St Albans and the Earl of Carlisle, for whom he worked at Burlington House.