"A Fine Gourmet!"
Louis Godefroy Jadin (France, 1805-1882)
Oil on wood panel
Signed and dated "1855"
 
Louis Godefroy Jadin was born in Paris in 1805 and was trained under the supervision of numerous of the most prominent artists in Paris. After several years of apprenticeship, Jadin exhibited at the Salon in 1831 and was awarded medals in 1834, 1840, 1848 and 1855.
 
 Having abandoned the subject of pure landscape painting, he devoted himself to hunting and animal subjects. Within a few years Jadin became the favored painter of dogs belonging to the Parisian High Society.
 
Through his friendship with Alexandre Dumas, he was introduced to the Duke of Orleans who ordered large paintings to decorate the dining room of the Tuileries Palace. These paintings unfortunately disappeared in a fire. Shortly after, now having earned considerable fame, Godefroy Jadin became the official painter of the hunts of the Emperor Napoleon III, and then he achieved still greater notoriety for his paintings of Napoleon's hunting dogs. 
 
He was made Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1854, His paintings can be found in numerous museums including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Royal Collection Trust, London; Museo Carnavalet-The Museum of the History of Paris.

Jadin was one of the best animal painters of the 19th century, a specialist in representations of dogs. He died in 1882.