Percival Rosseau (1859-1937), Bill's Covey

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Feb 20, 2026

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• Lot Description
  Percival Rosseau (1859-1937)
  Bill's Covey, 1933
  signed and dated "Rosseau 1933" lower right
  oil on canvas, 24 1/2 by 40 1/2 in.
  
  The three dogs in this masterful painting are Transue Bill, Captain Fram, and Denwood Frank. Transue Bill was a setter belonging to William Transue, who went to Swarthmore College, served in World War I, ran a boys' camp in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, and "was recognized as one of the most expert breeders and trainers of dogs in this country," according to his 1938 obituary. His English setter, Miss Blazeway, took the All-Age and Subscription Stakes at the Wyoming Valley Field Trial Club Meet in 1926.
  
  In 1920 Rosseau painted at Denwood, the home and club of Pemberton Hare Powel. Dog historian A. F. Hochwalt writes, "Down at Denton, N.C., is the Denwood Fishing and Hunting Club, composed of a dozen or more gentlemen from the North. The club house is a modern arranged building in every respect, the cuisine is on par with that to be found in any city and the other comforts are fully as great. In connection with this club a kennel is maintained for the benefit of those members who come south for their annual shooting...The members of this club seem to be perfectly satisfied with the way their dogs are kept at the Denwood Club and that after all is the principal test as to whether or not a kennel is properly managed."
  
  Denwood Frank belonged to and was bred at Denwood by P. H. Powel, who summered in Newport, Rhode Island, and wintered at popular hunting grounds in North Carolina and, at times, North Georgia. The Denwood line of pointers remained prominent for many years. Powel was a leading sportsman, who, among his pursuits, co-won a mid-winter trap shooting competition in Pinehurst, North Carolina, in 1910, was active with the Aquidneck Gun Club in Rhode Island, and judged pointers for the Morris and Essex Kennel Club in New Jersey in 1935. His father, John Hare Powel Jr., served in the Civil War, was mayor of Newport, and was known for his fondness of field sports.
  
  Of Rosseau's Denwood paintings, Edward Wilbar wrote, "One could almost see the broom straw...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. Sportsmen are keen critics of dog art. They catch the stilted and unreal portraiture of the sporting dog. That Mr. Rosseau's brush is guided by the hand of a sportsman and dog lover is shown in his work, and that he 'satisfies' is shown in the very keen appreciation every well-known dog lover takes in his beautiful canvases as they appear."
  
  Rosseau also etched Bill's Covey, in which depicts only two dogs. The etching has been described: "Here's a brace of dogs to warm the heart of any hunter--a couple of seasoned campaigners, staunch on point, steady to wing and shot, with meat-in-the-pot noses that seldom miss a bird. They locate game with decision, point with firmness and style, hold firm until the gun is fired and are quick to retrieve the birds that are dropped. They have the endurance to carry them through long hours of casting about in search of game, but they temper their enthusiasm and stay within range of the gunner.
  
  "It's ideal hunting weather and game is fairly abundant. The country is broken but both dogs display initiative in locating birdy places. Suddenly, Transue Bill, in the lead, stiffens at point. The scent he has followed brings him close to the game he has been searching out. His partner, a few paces to the rear, freezes in his tracks, backing up the point on birds he has not yet sighted. It's "Bill's Covey" and, like the excellent field dog he is, his team mate honors Bill's point without questions."
  
  This painting was also reproduced as a print.
  
  Provenance: Private Collection, Colorado
  
  Literature: A. F. Hochwalt, "Kennels and Their Construction," Outer's Book - Recreation, July 1918, Vol. LVIV, No. 1, pp. 60-63. Edward Russell Wilbur, "Old Friends and Well-Known Scenes in the North Carolina Fields Strikingly Portrayed on Canvas by the Master Hand of Percival Rosseau," Forest and Stream, February 1920.

  Condition

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