3-008-669 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The International Exhibition - "Go to Sleep!", a marble group by J. Durham, 1862. '...a child making a doll of a pet Skye terrier...the execution of this little group is as fresh, pleasing, and natural as the subject is quaint and original. The child is evidently delighted with his little rough pet, and...places the dog in his arms with the idea of rocking it to sleep...It is ingeniously and humorously expressed, however, that the dog's views and feelings do not at all coincide with those of his little master, especially on finding himself in such an awkward, unnatural, and entirely unaccustomed position for sleeping. You see that to the repeated and urgent injunction to "Go to sleep!" he is beginning to snarl a refusal; the eyes look fiercely and rebelliously though timidly askant; the upper lip begins to rise and show the canine teeth. The force of good education is still evident in the docile "begging" position of the fore paws, but the hind legs are scratching away vigorously at the restraining and admonitory arm. The dog is altogether a capital study, as carefully executed as the boy himself, and the shaggy coat forms an excellent contrast to the smooth texture of the flesh'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.