George Earl was a painter, primarily of sporting dogs and other animals. He was also the father of Maud Earl

Maud Earl

Maud Alice Earl was an eminent British-American canine painter. Her works are much enjoyed by dog enthusiasts and also accurately record many breeds....

 and Percy Earl, and the brother of Thomas Earl, all three of whom were also animal artists.

Earl was a keen sportsman and this is reflected in his work and reputation as a dog painter. He was also an early member of The Kennel Club

The Kennel Club

The Kennel Club is a kennel club based in London and Aylesbury, United Kingdom.The Kennel Club registration system divides dogs into seven breed groups. The Kennel Club Groups are: Hound, Working, Terrier, Gundog, Pastoral, Utility and Toy...

. Although chiefly remembered as a canine artist due to his success depicting them, of the nineteen paintings Earl exhibited at the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

 between 1857 and 1882 only two were of dogs.

Notable works

• The Field Trial Meeting - A depiction of a mythical field trial set in Bala
  Bala, Gwynedd
  Bala is a market town and community in Gwynedd, Wales, and formerly an urban district of the historic county of Merionethshire. It lies at the north end of Bala Lake , 17 miles north-east of Dolgellau, with a population of 1,980...
  
  , North Wales. Earl included many of the famous dog trial faces of the day along with their animals. One such animal was 'Plunkett', the only Irish Setter depicted

• Going North and Coming South - Two pictures commissioned by Sir Andrew Barclay Walker of the Walker Brewery, the paintings are bustling narrative works depicting railway station life. Now owned by the National Railway Museum
  National Railway Museum
  The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the British National Museum of Science and Industry and telling the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It has won many awards, including the European Museum of the Year Award in 2001...
  
   they were rescued in 1990 from a Liverpool pub (The Vines in Lime Street). Going North tells the story of a group of friends travelling from Kings Cross to Scotland for the summer grouse shooting season. The partner work Coming South shows the group a month later at Perth
  Perth, Scotland
  Perth is a town and former city and royal burgh in central Scotland. Located on the banks of the River Tay, it is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire...
  
   Station, about to make their return journey. The works show much of the minutiae of Victorian station life and also include Earl's trademark sporting interests in the form of dogs and grouse.

• Champions of England - A series of portrait studies of dogs heads painted in the 1870s, the works were illustrated in a book of the same name.

External links

• Photograph of Earl (more specifically, an albumen
  Albumen print
  The albumen print, also called albumen silver print, was invented in 1850 by Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard, and was the first commercially exploitable method of producing a photographic print on a paper base from a negative...
  
   carte de visite
  Carte de visite
  The carte de visite was a type of small photograph which was patented in Paris, France by photographer André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, although first used by Louis Dodero...
  
  ) from the National Portrait Gallery