Two chalk studies of Minka, a pug dog given to Queen Victoria by Prince Vassiltschikoff of Russia in 1847; one seated, the other lying down. Inscribed on page below image: 'W. Keyl 1848' and 'Minka / Pug Dog / From Russia. 1848'

Keyl painted Minka twice - once in a double portrait in oils with Bout (a large black and tan dog given to Queen Victoria in 1847) dated 1850 (RCIN 406616) and secondly as one of a group of dogs in the Windsor Kennels in a watercolour (RCIN 923773) mounted in the same album as these studies in chalks.  

Friedrich Wilhelm Keyl was the only pupil of the animal painter Edwin Landseer, who was one of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's favoured artists. Landseer recommended Keyl to his royal patrons, and Keyl executed many oil paintings and smaller-scale watercolours and chalk drawings of royal pets and animals.