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Provenance

Possibly Sir Jarrit Smith or Smyth [1692-1783], Ashton Court, near Bristol, Somerset;[1] by descent in the family to his great-great-great-granddaughter, Esmé Smyth [née Edwards, 1863-1946], Ashton Court.[2] Lord de Mauley, Langford House, Lechdale, Gloucestershire; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 8 July 1949, no. 131); (Frank Sabin, London); purchased 1951 by the 21st Earl of Shrewsbury and Waterford [1914-1980], Ingestre Hall, Staffordshire;[3] (sale, Sotheby & Co., London, 23 March 1960, no. 63); purchased by (Colnaghi, London) for Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; bequest 1999 to NGA.

[1] See Judy Egerton, George Stubbs, Painter. Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 2007: no. 259, 486 n. 1.

[2] Esmé Edwards married the Hon. Gilbert Irby, but later took the name of Smyth when she inherited Ashton Court after her mother's death in 1914. Her mother, Emily Frances Way (1835-1914), was married twice, first to George Oldham Edwards, who died in 1883, then in 1884 to her cousin, Greville Upton (who became Greville Smyth by Royal License in 1859 in order to inherit the Smyth estates, and who died in 1901). See Anton Bantock, The Inside Story of the Smyths of Ashton Court, Bristol, 1980. The painting was not included in her estate sale, conducted at Ashton Court by John E. Pritchard & Co., 3-6 and 10-13 July 1947; see Egerton 2007, 486.

[3] The full name of the 21st Earl was John George Charles Henry Alton Alexander Chetwynd Chetwynd-Talbot. The painting is listed in a January 1953 catalogue of his pictures, where the entry includes the information about the Earl's purchase from Sabin: Anthony Crofton, "A Catalogue of the Pictures at Ingestre Hall, Staffordshire, Belonging to The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Shrewsbury and Waterford," in Collections for a History of Staffordshire Edited by The Staffordshire Record Society..., London, 1954: 73, no. 46.

Exhibition History
1951
Two Great Masterpieces. Velasquez - Rubens, Frank T. Sabin, London, 1951, no. 35.
1953
Works of Art from Midland Houses, City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 1953, no. 72.
1957
George Stubbs 1724-1806, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1957, no. 40, pl. XXII, as A Poodle in a Punt.
1958
The Age of Rococo: Art and Culture of the Eighteenth Century, The Residenz, Munich, 1958, no. 192, repro.
1963
Painting in England 1700-1850: Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1963, no. 314, repro., as White Poodle in a Boat.
1964
Painting in England 1700-1850 from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1964-1965, no. 275, repro., as White Poodle in a Boat.
1965
Painting in England 1700-1850 from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, 1965, no. 187, repro., as White Poodle in a Boat.
1984
George Stubbs 1724-1806, Tate Gallery, London; Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1984-1985, no. 97, repro.
1985
Stubbs: An Exhibition in Honor of Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1985, no. 21, repro. (brochure).
1991
Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991, unnumbered catalogue, repro.
1999
An Enduring Legacy: Masterpieces from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1999-2000, no cat.
1999
George Stubbs in the Collection of Paul Mellon: A Memorial Exhibition, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1999-2000, no. 55, repro. (shown only in New Haven).
2006
Best in Show: The Dog in Art from the Renaissance to Today, Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2006-2007, unnumbered catalogue, fig. 33 (shown only in Houston).
Bibliography
1971
Parker, Constance-Anne. Mr. Stubbs the Horse Painter. 1971: 100, repro. 96.
1975
Neve, Christopher. "The Dog Beneath the Skin: Stubbs's Dog Portraits." Country Life CLVII, No. 4049 (6 February 1975): 314-315, fig. 1.
1978
Egerton, Judy. British Sporting and Animal Paintings 1655-1867: The Paul Mellon Collection. London, 1978: 100-101, no. 98, pl. 36.
1991
Gingold, Diane J., and Elizabeth A.C. Weil. The Corporate Patron. New York, 1991: 190, repro.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 281, no. 227, color repro.
2013
Harris, Neil. Capital Culture: J. Carter Brown, the National Gallery of Art, and the Reinvention of the Museum Experience. Chicago and London, 2013: 421.
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