A delightful painting of two Jack Russell terrier puppies playing with a blanket by Edmund Caldwell. The artist was known for his humorous paintings featuring dogs and was living at Primrose Hill Studios in St Pancras, at the time of this work.

Edmund Caldwell was an animal artist born in Canterbury on 21 December, 1852. He was the eldest son of Samuel Caldwell, a stained glass painter and his wife Sarah (née Scott). His youngest sister Mary Tourtel (née Caldwell) was also an artist and the creator of the comic strip Rupert Bear. He lived with his family at Palace Street, close to the Cathedral. It is likely he would have received some artistic training from his father which enabled him to initially find work as a stone mason. However, encouraged by his family he decided to become an artist and became a pupil of the Thomas Sidney Cooper (1803-1902). He then moved to London to study at the West London School of Art, winning a scholarship to go there. He went on to study at the Académie Julian in Paris under Gustave Boulanger (1824-1888) and Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836-1911).

Caldwell made his debut at the Royal Society of British Artists in 1881 and the following year began exhibiting at the Royal Academy, continuing to exhibit there until 1903. He also exhibited at the Royal Institute of Painters in Oil, the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour and Suffolk Street.
His wife, Celestia was a US citizen who he had married sometime around 1886. The couple then spent time living in Swanley, Kent and then at Marlyn’s Cottage, Worplesdon near Guildford from 1891 before moving to an artist’s community at 2 Primrose Hill Studios in London around 1901.

As well as paintings, he also produced illustrations for books. He was asked by the author and South African statesman Sir James Percy Fitzpatrick to illustrate his book Jock of the Bushveld (1907) and visited him in South Africa to make on site drawings for the author. He also contributed illustrations for wildlife books such as Animals of Africa by H.A. Bryden (1909) and hunting books including The Gun at Home and Abroad by W.E. Ogilvie’s (1912).

Caldwell continued to travel throughout his life, returning to South Africa in 1924 and visiting Italy, in 1928 and 1929. He remained living at Primrose Hill Studios until his death on 28 March, 1930. Examples of his work can be found at the Harris Museum and the Castle of Good Hope museum in Cape Town, South Africa.