self portrait, 1860 John Henry Dolph (1835-1903) was born near Lake George, New York and moved to Ohio in 1841. Eight years later he became an apprentice to a carriage painter. From 1855-1858, Dolph painted portraits for the Allen Smith Jr. studio in Cleveland. In 1864, he moved to New York city where he started to exhibit his work. Dolph studied abroad in Antwerp from 1870-1873 and in Paris from 1880-1882. From this time, he began painting dogs, cats, puppies and kittens. Highly praised in the New York Tribune in 1892, “…in painting one of the prettiest household sights, a bundle of vari-colored fur lying on a cushion and filling the beholder with perplexing doubts as to which heads, tails, and paws belong to which bodies.” A publication called The Recorder noted that “What J.G. Brown has done for the American street urchin, Mr. Dolph has done for the American cat.” [http://www.thegreatcat.org/the-cat-in-art-and-photos-2/cats-in-19th-century-art/john-henry-dolph-1835-1903-american/] undefined

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