A Newfoundland with his bone

At the cradle of Verboeckhovens artistic career lies the influence of his father, the sculptor Barthèlemy Verboeckhoven (1759-1840), from whom he received his initial training. Subsequently he went to the Academy in Ghent and later became a student in the studio of the livestock-painter Balthasar Paul Ommeganck (1755-1826). His work was enormously successful from the start. He participated in a great number of exhibitions from 1820 onward, making a name for himself as a skilled artist. In 1824 he won his first gold medal at the Salon of Paris. In the same year a picture depicting cattle was bought by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. He was appointed Chevalier de l'Ordre de Leopold in 1833. He soon became one of the most important art teachers of the 19th century and was frequently asked to add staffage to the paintings of other admired artist's such as Barend Cornelis Koekkoek (1803-1862) and Johann Bernard Klombeck (1815-1893)

The present lot was executed in 1844 for exhibition at the Salon and is reminiscent of a work he created a year later, in 1845, which is in the Belgian Royal Collection. The present lot depicts a Newfoundland dog, leisurely lying in front of its kennel, one paw securing a large bone. As he looks away, a Spaniel cheekily creeps up, possibly in an attempt to steal this canine treasure.