From The Wallace Collection website:

The present picture was thought to be by Oudry when acquired by the 4th Marquess of Hertford, and continued to be catalogued as such until given to Alexandre-François Desportes in 1928. More recently, it was reattributed by Jacky to Nicolas Desportes, Alexandre-François’s nephew. It is probably the picture exhibited at the Salon of 1755 (no. 143), described as ‘a spaniel and a pointer quenching their thirst at a rustic fountain’ (‘un Epagneul & un Braque, qui se desalterent dans une Fontaine rustique’). At the Salon, it was paired with a painting of two dogs with dead game and a pheasant. It was sold in 1855 at the sale of the baron de Commailles as one of a set of three Oudrys, including another picture now at the Wallace Collection and attributed to Jacques-Charles Oudry (Hawk attacking wild Duck, P624). Desportes’s painting was extended at the top to match Oudry’s work which probably happened when the new group of three was created at an unknown date before 1855. The third painting of dogs and a duck is untraced.

Nicolas Desportes followed the style of his uncle closely and continued in his vain well beyond the former’s death.

Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: The Wallace Collection, London
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: Nicolas Desportes the Younger (1718 – 1787)
Date: 1754-1755

Image details
Date: 8 December 2025
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/25s
ISO: 400
Licensing: Image of a Wallace Collection asset. This image cannot be licensed.