It's #InternationalDogDay, so of course we must celebrate Lord Byron's best friend Boatswain, safely interred at @Newstead_Abbey .

#VeryGoodBoy


https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/lord-byrons-dog-boatswain-18031808-the-newfoundland-47822

Byron commissioned the painting of Boatswain from the main man in animal portraits at the time, Clifton Thomson.

It still hangs at @Newstead_Abbey. It's bigger than any other painting Byron had here, including the one of his mother.

Byron was in the habit of exchanging locks of hair with the various ladies he was in correspondence with.

DNA testing has now proved that many of the locks Byron posted out were in fact from Boatswain.

You can buy prints (and jigsaws, and mugs, and pretty much owt else) of Boatswain's portrait from our Nottingham Prints website. https://www.nottinghamprints.co.uk/fine-art/lord-byrons-dog-boatswain-1803-1808-photo-print-1744155.html