A Pekingese

Percival Leonard Rosseau was born near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Initially a businessman he then enrolled at the Académie Julien in Paris where he stayed for three years. Influenced by friends who painted in the tradition of the Barbizon School, he exhibited a painting of Setters at the Salon of 1904. From that point on he devoted himself entirely to the painting of dogs. He was awarded a Gold Medal at the Salon of 1906 for a picture of a panther hunt. He focused on the subtle depiction of changing light and his loose painterly style captured the tense action of sporting dogs in the field. It is rare for him to paint a non-sporting dog such as the present work.

See lot 103 for another work by this artist.