A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society

The distinguished member of the title is the dog. In Landseer's Britain the Royal Humane Society gave medals to people who saved others from drowning, and it had reportedly enrolled a black-and-white Newfoundland said to have pulled 23 people from the water over the years off the London docks. Landseer paints him as gravely as any admiral, resting on a stone quay with the harbour behind. There is a small honest wrinkle in the story. When the picture was made the celebrated dog could not be found, so Landseer used a stand-in he had once spotted trotting through London carrying a message for its owner. The breed of Newfoundland with these black-and-white markings is still called a Landseer today, after him.