French, 19th century

The present marble derives from an ancient model at the Louvre (inv. no MR 1012). The ancient marble dates from the 1^st–2^nd century AD and was previously in the collection of Camillo Borghese, 6th Prince of Sulmona (1775-1832), who was perhaps best known for being a brother in law of Napoleon after he married Napoleon's younger sister, Pauline Bonaparte, in 1803.

The ancient marble entered the collection at the Louvre in 1807, and the present marble may have been made shortly after. Large scale nineteenth-century models of dogs remain comparatively rare, particularly those derived from classical prototypes, making this example an especially fine reflection of the revival of interest in antiquity that characterised nineteenth-century sculpture.