This painting is based on 'Twa Dogs' which Landseer painted in 1822 (Sheepshanks Bequest, 1857, Victoria and Albert Museum), which appears in Algernon Graves 'Catalogur of Landseer's Works 1876, p.7 no.57. The larger of the dogs in that picture is identified as Mr. Gosling's 'Neptune'. The painting was engraved in two sizes: the smaller version by C.G Lewis and the larger B.P Gibbon in 1827. The indistinct inscrption on the reverse reads 'by Rob Gibb, a young man of great promise-died (in) morning. Born 1801. Died 1837'