Bashaw, a Newfoundland dog, sat some fifty times for his portrait. His owner, Lord Dudley and Ward, commissioned the marble sculpture from Matthew Cotes Wyatt in 1831. The work was to have been displayed in Lord Dudley's house in Park Lane, but he died the year before it was finished, in 1833, and Bashaw remained in the possession of the sculptor until his death in 1862. Dogs' portraits were occasionally painted during the nineteenth century, but this elaborate lifesize sculpted piece, originally set with gems is unique. In 1851 it was shown at the Great Exhibition, where it was entitled The Faithful Friend to Man Trampling Underfoot his Most Insidious Enemy, in reference to the bronze cobra beneath the dog's feet. The placid expression of the dog, and the elegant cushion on which he stand