Eos, a graceful greyhound, accompanied Prince Albert to Britain when he married Queen Victoria in 1840. The Prince described the dog to his future wife in a letter:

You ask after…my faithful, but not disinterested Eos. She is very well, looks after herself as much as she can, sleeps by the stove, is very friendly if there is plum-cake in the room, very much put out when she has to jump over the stick, keen on hunting, sleepy after it, always proud and contemptuous of other dogs

Prince Albert

Knowing of her new husband's fondness for his pet the Queen commissioned this portrait as a Christmas present, happily describing its success in her journal: ‘Amongst my presents to him was a large life size picture of “Eos” by Landseer, with which he was quite delighted, & it came as a complete surprise’. The painting hung in the Prince's Dressing Room at Buckingham Palace.