Mastiff and a Landseer Newfoundland (1792)
attributed to
George Morland
Morland (1763 - 1804) was an English painter known primarily for his animal paintings. A gifted painter and something of a prodigy, Morland struggled with financial hardship for most of his adult life.
The Newf portrayed in this work bears a distinct resemblance to the Newf portrayed in another painting known to be by Morland, as noted below. But if the attribution of this painting is correct, its stated title cannot be original, since black-and-white Newfoundlands would not be known as "Landseers" until the mid 1800s; indeed, Sir Edwin Landseer, after whom black-and-white Newfs were named, did not even start painting these dogs until approximately 1819.
Compare the dog in this painting — which, admittedly, does not look much like Newfoundland dogs today — to other early Newf paintings, including Morland's Dogs on Coast, which also shows a prick-eared black-and-white Newf.