A comforting Friend in her Moment of Grief

The bond between dogs and their masters was often treated by Victorian artists, and the picture-loving public responded warmly to paintings such as Landseer's The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner and Briton Riviere's Sympathy each of which were disseminated widely through engravings. Wardle was of a subsequent generation, but like Landseer and Riviere before him he sought to accurately portray the feelings of animals without falling into the trap of giving them human expressions. In the face of the Jack Russell in this picture, he succeeds admirably.