This painting of an Irish water spaniel by Walter Harrowing shows a dog with what appears to be a true red coat, instead of the liver coloration we know today. This red coloration, which would be a brown-skinned recessive red, might be a throwback to possible Irish setter ancestry in this breed.
From The Complete Dog Book (1921):
As to the origin of the Irish Water Spaniel there is very little authentic information. Mr. McCarthy seems to have been one of, if not the first, exhibitor of the breed and a successful one, although the Irish Water Spaniel was previously kept largely in Ireland for sporting purposes and a valued member of “Ireland’s Reds”—Red Setter, Red Spaniel, Red Terrier, Red Wolfhound.
The most feasible theory of his origin is a cross between the Poodle and the Irish Setter. There is much in common in type and character between the Poodle and Irish Water Spaniel—viz., in coat, conformation, head, and general character, while in disposition the dog inherits all the dash and determination of the Irish Setter, and partakes of his color, which we can quite understand would be deepened by crossing in again to the Poodle. The Irish Water Spaniel partakes, too, of the great intelligence of the Poodle, who, although regarded as a trick and fancy dog, will hunt and retrieve on land or water with most Spaniels. The breed has never made the progress with the public that it merited by their many good qualities. They are smart and upstanding in appearance, combining intelligence and endurance with a dashing temperament that make them charming companions. They are also splendid guards for children; will play with them by the hour and act as their guards in time of danger (pg 126-127).
Now, the color genetics are way off. IWS are livers, and Irish setters are black-skinned recessive reds. If bred to an Irish setter, the puppies will be black. However, I do think at least some historical IWS were brown-skinned reds, so maybe this theory has some currency after all.
However, I don’t discount the notion of dogs deriving from crossing a liver poodle-type water dog with an Irish setter and then back crossing to the liver water dog.
See earlier posts;
One must be a bit cautious in making decisions based on reproductions of old paintings. Color is not always truly representative, due to changes in pigments of both paint and printing ink, different lighting when photographed, and so on. Yes, the dog in this painting does appear quite reddish; was it really so, or did the painter emphasize redness for some reason, perhaps artistic effect? Was the portrait done from life, or did the artist work from a (black-and-white) photo and estimate color? Did the pigments change over time? Was there an effect of the lighting used to photograph the painting? Was the printed reproduction faithful to the original? And so on…
Such skepticism is good to note, but one also have to consider dogs of yore are much more variable. For example: Norwegian Grey Elkhounds used to be much more variable in colour fifty years ago until the formula for chinchilla became predominated. Even the tails were much more variable half a century ago, allowing for saber tails.
Absolutely true! As an example, one could track the changes in the Cocker Spaniel breed over time….quite extraordinary — from the original red-and-white hunting spaniel through the achondroplastic Obo type of the 1890s, the sporting type of the 1940s to the very different sort we see today. To fully understand any breed, it is essential to know its history;a fascinating subject, and one reason this blog is so interesting.
One often runs into mentions of red IWS, maybe referring to liver but it could mean that you’d have the odd brown-skinned red in the bloodline, just as we have both in Chesapeake Bay retrievers
This painting of John Frederick Herring snr (1795–1865) presents another Irish Water Spaniel – or that’s what it’s called at these repro stock sellers’ boutiques:
http://www.john-frederick-herring.org/Irish-Water-Spaniel-Retrieving-a-Duck-large.html
Little doubt that the dog depicted is a water spaniel — but certainly not the sort that M’Carthy produced and which has become the IWS we know today. In the 19th century there were at least three different sorts of “Irish Water Spaniels” (i.e., water spaniels known in Ireland) and several in England. The dog as shown in the painting derived from J F Herrien far more resembles what was commonly called the “ordinary English water spaniel”
Pffft. . . that should be “J F Herring”, not ‘Herrien”, of course.
Herring was a well known British sporting artist, better known for his portraits of famous horses of the day.
Some IWS’ coats sunburn in the summer, especially if they are working dogs who are out side most of the time. This sunburn turns the exposed coat a red-orange tinge. When the sunburned tips of the coat are cut off, you find that the coat is liver colored underneath.
This propensity for sunburn is more prevalent in the thicker-coated, ligher colored, and not-quite-as-tightly curled individuals. They are also often more heavily boned. My bitch Tooey is one of these — she is slightly on the light side, has very thick coat and undercoat, her curl is somewhat on the wavy side, and she is heavily boned.
This is what the reproduction of this painting remind me of. Also, the angles of the light in the image make it look like an evening setting, which would emphasize the red-orange in sunburned fur.
My dog Cooper, however, has a very dark, very tightly curled coat. Even though he is a working dog, his coat does not sunburn and is always dark liver colored. Also, he’s more finely boned than Tooey.
In many of the darker IWS, in some angles of light, you can often see the purple tinge in the liver color. This could also be what some people are referring to as red, though it’s nothing like the reproduction of the painting.