64 
FOREST AND STREAM 
February, 1920 
GOOD POINTS TO BE CONSIDERED 
OLD FRIENDS AND WELL KNOWN SCENES IN THE NORTH CAROLINA FIELDS STRIK- 
INGLY PORTRAYED ON CANVAS BY THE MASTER HAND OF [PERCIVAL ROSSEAU 
T HE telephone bell jangled; an invita- 
tion came over the wire to please 
come around to an art gallery 
where there was an exhibition of dog 
portraits by Mr. Percival Rosseau. 
You know it wasn’t just the thing to 
do; you might almost call it a “frame 
up” to usher a man in off one of New 
York City’s busiest streets, put him in 
the fields of North Carolina in the midst 
of about thirty setters and pointers, all 
of them down on birds, why you would 
have been afraid to take one step, lest 
By EDWARD RUSSELL WILBUR 
the air be full of flying quail as the be- 
vies flushed. 
The soft light of the gallery seemed to 
blot out the gilded frames and fixtures, 
one could almost see the broom straw 
and the pine trees sway in the gentle 
southern breeze, every dog stood there 
pointing and backing, tense and sure, 
and one by .one you began to pick out 
old friends. 
The pictures were all the work of Mr. 
Percival Rosseau, a winter’s work if you 
will, all done at and about the Denwood 
Club grounds at Denton, North Carolina. 
The accompanying reproductions are 
but a small part of the beautiful collec- 
tion, and as Mr. Rosseau is as much a 
sportsman as an artist it is but fitting 
that Forest and Stream should pass on 
to its readers some small enjoyment of 
his art. None but an ardent sportsman 
and a dog lover as well could make his 
dogs show their class, beauty and field 
quality as his do, neither would his won- 
derfully adapted bits of landscape so 
thoroughly typify the peculiar cover and 
atmosphere of the Carolina fields. 
The canvas of the three pointers en- 
titled, “And it was a big covey,” shows 
“Dominant and Heyday,” belonging to 
Mr. Harry Kirkover, of Buffalo, N. Y., 
and “Nita,” owned by Mr. P. H. Powel, 
of Newport, R. I. Isn’t this a wonderful 
place for a bevy find, and this was a big 
covey for Mr. Rosseau flushed it himself 
after getting the grouping of the dogs 
in his mind’s eye. 
The picture showing the three setters, 
“One for all and all for one,” is a mag- 
nificent piece of work. The dogs are Boy 
and Trow, and Master Benson, all owned 
by Mr. Kirkover. Master Benson died 
recently; he was a great favorite of Mr. 
Kirkover, and as a sire was well thought 
of. This beautiful picture was pur- 
chased during the exhibtion by Mr. Sam- 
uel Gallen, of New York City, as was 
also the canvas, “Master’s Sons,” show- 
ing Boy and Raven, another brace of Mr. 
Kirkover’s. 
The painting entitled, “The Last 
Brace,” shows Mr. Richard Heckscher’s 
“Shores Ben” and Mr. Kirkover’s “Boy.” 
Notice the wonderful evening light just 
settling over the fields. Truly an end 
to a perfect day; all there is for us now, 
lis a flush, one shot or two and back to 
And it was a big covey — Dominant, Heyday and Nita 
