*1958 casein tempera (cacéine a tempera)

Alexander Colville is great artist and, among all of his paintings, this is one I truly like.

It has what I call definition.  There is nothing impressionistic about it.  It is a portrait of a dog drawn and painted with precision.  Yet the dog could not possibly have been posing.  It could be that it was photographed, but I doubt it.  For painters, photographs are best used to record lightness and darkness.  Yet, Colville is definitely familiar with the anatomy of dogs running, or dogs sleeping in front of a fireplace.

I also like this painting because it features a beautiful dog.  There are people for whom the subject of the painting is important.  I love sailboats, I love paintings of elegant interiors, paintings of flowers and, obviously, paintings featuring gorgeous dogs: man’s best friend.

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I am certain Mr Colville spent a great deal of…