John Trivett Nettleship was a noted British 19th-century animal painter, celebrated in his day for powerful depictions of lions, tigers, and other wild creatures. For nearly three decades he exhibited substantial canvases at the Royal Academy and the Grosvenor Gallery, establishing himself as a key exponent of serious animal painting in Victorian Britain. Born in Kettering, Northamptonshire, Nettleship initially trained in law before devoting himself to art, studying at Heatherley’s and the Slade, and refining his mature style through independent work. He moved in intellectually engaged circles, publishing essays on the poet Robert Browning, writing a study of George Morland, and associating with admirers of William Blake and the broader Pre-Raphaelite milieu. Because he is best known for dramatic wild-animal subjects and large exhibition works, finished portraits of domesticated dogs are comparatively scarce in his oeuvre. A signed and dated Rough Collie of this quality therefore represents an unusually intimate and personal side of the artist’s production, appealing to collectors of animal painting and Victorian artistic-literary circles alike.